5th of May, Sunday - Epilogue
With difficulties, we have returned to the mansion.
For the dinner I asked a home delivery service. Sayuri said "I"ll make something!" but she was dizzy just from standing, letting her hold a kitchen knife was dangerous.
Selene was half-asleep as she ate dinner, Yuuki and Mika too seemed tired from playing.
Tomomi... had a peaceful expression.
I think she was relieved to have confided everything.
We took bath in order and went to bed early.
I slept like a log.
The next morning, when everyone ate breakfast in the room 701, Sayuri suddenly declared.
"I found a boyfriend as well, Onii-sama! Please pay attention to me! Please have special date practice with me."
As I tried to respond to Sayuri, Selene quietly raised her hand.
"...I got an air boyfriend. A 2d character."
As I stared at Sayuri"s and Selene"s face alternately, Yuuki shyly raised her hand.
"Me too... I h-have a boyfriend too Nii-san! The setting is that of an ex-vice student council president!"
Mika raised both her hands in banzai gesture.
"Then Mii-chan too! Mii-chan is looking for a splendid man to be Maple"s dad!"
The gazes of the four little sisters concentrated on me.
"Hey hey... wait a second. No way, you want a fair date practice with each of you...?"
Tomomi crossed her arms and nodded.
"All right! I"ll help everyone with the date practice. Leave support to me!"
Mika shook her head lightly.
"Umm, Mii-chan prefers everyone go together rather than separate!"
Then Yuuki smiled.
"Same for me I guess. If I"m with Nii-san alone I"ll probably get too nervous."
Selene gave a small nod.
"...with bunch of unknown people, it"s scary. It"s better with many people I know."
The three seemed to hold the same opinion, their requesting gazes gathered on Sayuri.
In the atmosphere that had spread, Sayuri"s shoulders drooped and she sighed.
"I-I understand. Please don"t stare at me like that... haa. Well then, tomorrow let"s all go on a date. Is that all right, Onii-sama?"
When I was sleeping the little sisters meeting might have been held.
"Y-yeah. But, where will we all go?"
Mika happily raised her voice.
"Maumauland!"
Then Sayuri squinted.
"In that case, I"ll prepare a perfect plan. Since we"re going, I"ll prepare boxed lunches as well. Although we can"t eat in the park, there"s a lot of s.p.a.ce outside where we can eat lunch. We"ll temporarily exit during the lunch and return afterwards... we can do that."
"I didn"t know that."
I furrowed my eyebrows. Sayuri stared at my face anxiously.
"Um, is there a problem, Onii-sama?"
I hurriedly cleared my expression.
"Nice plan Sayuri! But I wonder if Murasaki-san will permit it."
Tomomi tilted her head in puzzlement.
"Who cares about permissions! Let"s go, Nii-chan!"
I recalled Maumauland"s schedule Sayuri showed me before.
"If we proceed with Sayuri"s plan, we"ll see evening fireworks at eight thirty-five, then pa.s.s by the souvenir store and go home. Considering the suddenness and the bad physical condition we"ll get tired, so it"s not a bad idea."
Yuuki held her chin between her index finger and thumb, pondered for a moment and then spoke up.
"If not for that, we might end up coming home late."
"That"s right, Yuuki. Of course, planning to come home early might be good, but our stay will shorten because of that, considering it"s crowded during holidays we"ll have to give up on the popular attractions... were we at least accompanied by an adult, we could go even return late."
Tomomi showed me a thumbs up and smiled, showing her white teeth.
"Let"s go ask Murasaki-san to accompany us then!"
That was quite a dynamic idea.
"I-is that all right?"
Other than Mika, everyone here was bad with Murasaki-san. Including me, that is.
Still smiling, Tomomi responded.
"To find Murasaki-san"s weakness I think it"s good to try many things. For example having her ride on the scream machine... and such? Well, calling it a weakness might be exaggerating."
"I see. Speaking of which, I don"t really know anything about Murasaki-san either. What kind of food does she like? What kind of books does she read? And so on."
Tomomi continued.
"Know your enemy and know yourself and you can fight a hundred battles without disaster, Nii-chan!"
If I"m not wrong that"s Sun Tzu"s art of war, isn"t it. I nodded.
"If we get along better with Murasaki-san, the situation might change... huh. What does everyone think?"
Selene muttered absent-mindedly.
"...a bit scary."
Sayuri was anxious as well.
"I"ll definitely get nervous."
Yuuki looked at my face and nodded.
"I"m in favour. Murasaki-san might deny it herself, but she surely will want to go. I mean, going with everyone will be fun."
Mika raised both her hands in banzai gesture.
"Murasaki-neechama is coming? Yayy!"
Seeing the youngest"s smile, Selene gave in.
"...yup, let"s go with that."
She spoke curtly and shook her head in approval. Following suit, Sayuri also nodded.
"I understand, Onii-sama. This too is an ordeal. I"ll show you I can overcome it!"
With everyone"s opinions gathered, Tomomi stood up.
"Let"s immediately have negotiations then. Ah! Mika, can you do something? Hide behind Nee-chan and just peek out to stare at Murasaki-san."
"Yup! I"ll do it!"
It seems like Tomomi has some kind of plan.
"If it doesn"t work, giving up is also essential part."
Apologizing ahead of time, I stood up from my seat.
After breakfast, with Maple-carrying Mika, we headed towards room 202 with Tomomi who had some kind of plan in mind.
When we rang Murasaki-san"s intercom, "please wait ten minutes" she said.
After exactly ten minutes we were invited inside the room.
Murasaki-san waited for us with a frosty expression.
"If you contacted me in advance I wouldn"t have made you wait."
"I-I"m sorry."
"Please state your bussiness."
Let"s be honest here.
"Um, tomorrow we thought of going to Maumauland with everyone, would Murasaki-san come together with us?"
It was a bold proposal, even if I say so myself.
Possibly because she didn"t expect such a request from us, Murasaki-san"s expression turned blank.
"M-my apologies, so it won"t do? Even though it"s holiday, you must be having lots going on."
"U-umm... that"s... I have no urgent work to do tomorrow but..."
No way, is Murasaki-san shaken?!
Mika stood behind me and stared intently at Murasaki-san.
Then she came out a step forward.
"Nii-chama, did you finish talking? Murasaki-neechama is going isn"t she? T-then! Next, Mii-chan"s want to talk with Mursaki-neechama."
"Y-yes, what is it?"
While she still hasn"t stated whether she will go to Maumauland, questioned, Murasaki-san spoke in a twisted voice. It seems like Mika was completely convinced Murasaki-san is going.
Mika opened Maple"s zipper and took out a small gift box from inside.
Pa.s.sing it to Murasaki-san, Mika bowed.
"Murasaki-neechama, thank you for always."
"W-what is this..."
"You see, see, Nii-chama said "if you give Murasaki-san gift for taking care of you, she"ll be happy". Mii-chan thought it"s a good idea, please accept it."
For a moment, Murasaki-san"s functions came to full stop.
"Open and take a look!"
"Y-yes, excuse me."
It seemed like Mika"s voice solved the hypnosis, Murasaki-san opened the gift package with trembling fingers.
What came from within, was a hair clip she Mika bought in Akihabara.
A replica of accessory an anime character wears... wasn"t it. I thought it would be more like a toy, but it wasn"t so at all.
Staring at the gift she received from Mika, Murasaki-san muttered.
"A wonderful... hair clip, isn"t it."
Murasaki-san trembled more and more like a scared Chihuahua.
Whether she was happy or embara.s.sed, I couldn"t tell.
"Put it on! Ah! Mii-chan will put it on for you!"
Mika rushed over to Murasaki-san and put the hair clip on her bangs. The hair clip had a beautiful purple stone on it, it fit Murasaki-san"s name and image perfectly.
Mika"s eyes sparkled.
"Waa, it fits Murasaki-neechama a lot."
Murasaki-san didn"t have a smile on her face. It seemed like she was trying to endure something.
"T-thank you very much..."
Her voice was turned over as if she was in middle of aircraft aerobatics.
She stood up from the sofa and turned her back towards us.
"Aaa! Don"t be so shy!"
Mika moved around her and looked up at Murasaki-san"s face.
I wonder just what kind of expression does she have. Rather.... she"s trembling real strong, is she all right? Worried, I called out to her.
"Umm, Murasaki...-san?"
Her trembling immediately subsided.
"Well then. I"ll hurry and arrange the tickets ahead of the time. Seven of them. Since it"s holidays according to regulations they won"t be selling tickets on the day itself."
Hearing that Mika happily raised her arms with a "yaay!".
Umm... seven of them means...
While I was confused, Tomomi elbowed me.
"We did it, Nii-chan!"
Since she"s willing to arrange it, in other words... the plan succeeded?!
"Is it really okay? Or rather... um."
Murasaki-san calmed her breathing and continued with a frosty tone of voice.
She was still turned with her back towards me and Tomomi.
"If it"s just minors, it"ll be worrying. Also, this too in the end, is part of the little sister selection. In the amus.e.m.e.nt park I want to see who is the most fitting to be the little sister. Doesn"t Yoichi-san think so?"
"Y-yes! Exactly so!"
I ended up replying like that. Is that fine, with such a reason?!
Mika who was staring at Murasaki-san"s face continued to raise her hands happily.
"I"ll meet Maumau-san! Yayy, yaaayy!"
Next to me, Tomomi whispered under her breath.
"The trick"s timing was perfectly calculated. But, above all, Mika"s cuteness is the highest justice."
And like that, it happened that we suddenly are going to Maumauland tomorrow.
Based on Sayuri"s notes, the plan to conquer (?) Maumauland has been conceived.
Yuuki checked the distance Mika could walk by herself. We prepared break time as not to tire her out too much.
Selene too said "It"s all right if it"s with everyone". Getting to Akihabara by herself must have gave her new self-confidence. Once she gets used to crowds of people, she"ll be able to take off the eyemask and start going outside... or so she said.
Tomomi investigated the transportation. Since Mika"s height wasn"t enough for some attractions, we have removed these from the plan.
Sayuri summarized the plan in her notebook.
I"ve mostly looked over them as they did it. Or rather, seeing the little sisters work excitedly there was nothing I could help with.
An amus.e.m.e.nt park, huh. It wasn"t the Maumauland Jinya-san took me to, but a little of the excitement from back then have returned to me.
On that evening, the little sisters went back to their rooms in order to prepare for tomorrow.
With that said though, they couldn"t return to their own rooms until midnight because of the smart keys.
Today too I brought sleeping Mika back to her room.
As I thought, I"d prefer some improvement when it comes to this.
Rather than about Maumauland, I should have asked Murasaki-san about this first... well, it"s too late for that now.
Of course, I was fine with everyone staying until Monday morning as well.
Better yet, if everyone ended up living on the seventh floor... I thought.
How long are we going to remain like this.
A story I"ve heard from somewhere had crossed my mind.
People mostly don"t know when they"re going to die.
If sentenced to death by the doctor because of an incurable disease, they have a rough idea, so it"s just "mostly".
Still, there are people who live longer than the time they"re told by the doctors, as well as those whose condition suddenly changes and they die before that.
Even in good health, you might get into an accident. Jinya-san too, was surely like that.
No one knows when will the end come.
Because we don"t know, we live as not to have any regrets on that day... I think.
While I absent-mindedly thought of such things lying down in the bed in my room... a message came through the STRING. It was from Mariko.
Do you have time next Friday? Is what was written.
Friday was Mika"s day but... She just told me yesterday to use some time for myself also, I continued to refuse and apologize to Mariko all the time.
Without thinking about anything special I responded with "I have time".
I didn"t think that a casual reply like this would result with such a thing.