Translator: Reflet

「You gotta do itー, and I mean do it as in violate herー」

Hera whispered in his ears, following him around like a small insect . Based on her elated expression and tone of voice, she was like a demon that had just defeated an arch-nemesis angel . There was in fact no angel there, but he didn’t hesitate . Used to this, Taiyou hit her, striking her into the ground . Also used to this, she powerfully bounded up and flew back to him .

「Hey, what are you doing?」

Grabbing the protesting fairy by the nape of the neck, he moved her in front of his eyes .

「What are you doing?」

「I’m just reminding Taiyou-chan about what he’s forgetting to do, okay? Now then, hurry up and kiss Pochi-chan, and then I’ll do what needs to be done with her . 」

「It’s not that I forgot; I purposefully chose not to, okay? And what do you mean by “doing what needs to be done”?」

He shot a question back at her with cold eyes . He looked at her this way because she had said that Hera and Pochi, who had no way of contacting each other, had to accomplish something together, which sounded ridiculous .

　Ultimately, it was exactly what Taiyou had thought .

「Playing ball, taking a stroll around the river beach――」

「Do you seriously intend to treat her like a dog!?」

「I promise it’ll be fun, okay?」

「For you, maybe . 」

He said as he tried to hit her back down . She had nimbly dodged said attack, so in order to follow up with another attack――much like driving away a fly in front of one’s face, he waved his hands in a fluttering motion . Unable to see Hera, Pochi quizzically inquired .

「What are you doing, Master?」

「Eh? Oh, uhh, hmm…you know, shadow boxing!」

While thinking about how hard this was for him, he waved his hands frantically and made

an excuse .

「Shadow boxing . Dodging an attack from an imaginary enemy while throwing a punch and so on; the process of moving by oneself to create attacks . 」

After she had recited the usual dictionary information, Pochi made a content face .

「So that’s what you were doing!」

「Oh, so you accepted the explanation…」

「What a good girl…you are . 」

Hera pretended to be moved to tears .

「Seriously, Hera…」

「Master!」

Pochi raised her voice . He initially thought that she had called him, but he realized that her gaze was actually focused behind him .

Kohaku came up behind him . Kohaku was smiling, but with earnest eyes . These were not the eyes of her usual jokes or jests, but rather the kind of face she would make when having serious discussions .

「Listen Pochi, I’m going tah be speaking with Husband right now . So be quiet and listen without getting in tha way . 」

「Okay, understood!」

Nodding vigorously, she sealed her mouth with both of her hands . As usual, this was a rather childlike and adorable mannerism . Looking at her and nodding satisfactorily, she turned back to Taiyou .

「My Husband, I’ve heard the story . 」

「Story?」

「Indeed; the argument between Husband and Hera . I am of the same opinion as Hera; I think that it would be best for you to kiss this girl soon . 」

「…」

「Why are you refusing her in the first place, Husband?」

「Well…」

Taiyou hesitated . Now that he thought about it, even he wasn’t so sure why he had been rejecting her . There wasn’t exactly any reason; he had just partly refused her by spinal reflex .

「Is it that you resent the fact that I took in Pochi?」

「No, not that . 」

Promptly responding, he shook his head . He didn’t have the answer as to why he rejected her, but he did have some composed ideas as to why .

「I think that you should do as you please,

please, Kohaku-san . There’s no reason to oppose your decisions . 」

「Then that’s even more reason tah kiss her . Living under the same roof and not being able tah even have a conversation about the unseen is inconvenient . 」

「That’s true, but…」

「Or do ya perhaps have another idea? If there’s a better method then I’m all ears . 」

「Method…」

Taiyou parroted back in a flat tone .

　He soon opened his eyes wide, astonished .

　Objective, and method .

　He was ordinarily the type of human to distinctly separate those two things . The most important thing was to fulfill the objective, and the methods were pliable――to rephrase, he was the type of human that would use any means at his disposal .

　He had come this far doing that very thing . Others had said that very thing about him, and even he thought in that fas.h.i.+on about himself . To relate this to the current conversation, the objective was for Pochi and Hera to both be able to recognize and converse with each other . And there was only one method, which was for Taiyou and Pochi to kiss .

　The previous him wouldn’t have refused . After all, if there was only one solution, then no matter how much he worried or refused, in the end it all came down to the same thing .

　That’s why he was surprised . Why he hadn’t done that immediately, and why he had continuously refused this time around . So he thought carefully about yesterday .

　Taiyou Castle was broken, they made it to this hot spring area with Kohaku’s driving, met with Pochi, and took her in . He carefully recalled that string of events .

　And when he did so, he realized something .

　Something very dull and laughable that made him want to be knocked down .

「…Haha . 」

Snorting, he lifted a smile of self-depreciation onto his face .

「What’s wrong, eh Husband?」

「No, I just

I just thought that I really am an idiot . 」

「What do you mean, Taiyou-chan?」

「For having pointless pride, you know . 」

「…I see . 」

Kohaku made an understanding face after a moment . Gazing at each other briefly, Taiyou felt that her eyes that had endured many years could see through everything .

　――Maybe I really should have realized that .

　――No, Kohaku-san, you did nothing wrong . Bad things only came about because of my pride .

　――The pride of a main provider may very well be a necessary thing .

　――If the main provider were of a higher caliber .

They gave that exchange in an instant just by exchanging their gaze . That’s all it took to convey the information both to the sender and the receiver . Feeling that way about it, both Taiyou and Kohaku were satisfied .

Or at least they were, but someone who didn’t understand was nearby .

「Eh? Kohaku-tan, you got all that?」

「Yeah, even I have to do some soul-searching . 」

「It’s my fault for not properly separating the objective and the method . There’s no blame on you, Kohaku-san . 」

「Then how about declaring this a draw? We each take care from now on . 」

「Agreed . 」

Taiyou and Kohaku nodded to each other when saying that . And Hera had a gibberish look on her face as usual .

「I really don’t understand what Taiyou-chan or Kohaku-tan are saying . 」

「Yeah?」

「But Taiyou-chan looks happy, so I won’t complain . 」

「You’re amazing in your own way . 」

「Well of course, as I am here for Taiyou-chan’s benefit . 」

A highly versatile phrase . Thinking that, Taiyou laughed, and the other two women lifted the corners of their mouths up into smiles, laughing .

　After the three of them had laughed at each other for some time, Kohaku called out to Pochi in the car .

「Pochi dear, get out of the car . 」

「Okay!」

Pochi obediently answered her call, opened the door, and got out

and got out from the car . She walked to where Kohaku was .

It all happened in an instant .

In under a split second; in an amount of time faster than the human sense could pursue . This was made possible by tagging along with s.h.i.+rokiyami――getting acc.u.mulated to bloodl.u.s.t .

「Kohaku-san!」

Sensing the impending danger quicker than anyone else, Taiyou yelled loudly and stepped in front of the girls to protect them .

　Zudododododododo――

The sound of gunfire echoing, and something aimed at Taiyou, flying toward him in succession . Those things. .h.i.t his body, which ignored the laws of physics, sending them powerlessly to the ground .

　The lead bullets fell trickling onto the earth .

「W-What is it?」

In response to the quick turn of events, Kohaku’s voice sounded out, losing her composure for once . On the other side of things, Taiyou was also taken aback, but with the Long-Distance Nullification skill and the experience from fighting with s.h.i.+rokiyami, he was comparatively calmer .

「Please don’t move, Kohaku-san . You’ll be safe if you stick behind me . 」

「…Alright . 」

He could sense someone taking a deep breath behind him . Being as amazing as she always was, Kohaku had swiftly recovered and was attempting to regain a sense of composure .

That was soon shaken by yet another grand-scale impact . Something exploded in front of them . Not an impact, but a flash-emitting explosion .

　Flash・Bang!

「Kuh!」

Momentarily disoriented, Taiyou looked back and hugged Kohaku closely so as to protect her . That way, he could protect her no matter what happened . He made various predictions, simulating how to deal with them in his head . But no matter how much time pa.s.sed, nothing came their way . Still embracing Kohaku, sight gradually returned .

「「「Taiyou-san!」」」

「Natsuno-kun!」

Overhearing the racket, the sister trio and Aoba emerged from the shop, protected by s.h.i.+rokiyami .

「Taiyou-chan! Pochi-chan isn’t here . 」

「What!」

Hearing Hera’s words, all present were in astonishment .