“A large-scale dungeon research team?”
We were drinking oolong tea while surrounding the low table.
In the wooden enclosure next to us, Yuri-san was playing with Jaja and Nana.
Jaja was thoroughly biting every toy that caught her eye.
Yuri-san made sure to check for anything that will break or shouldn"t be put into one"s mouth beforehand, so I"m relieved.
As expected, the stuffed dog toy was damaged the most, it was sticky and wet with Jaja"s drool. It seems like we will be indebted to the washing machine again today.
“Yes, a collaboration between the West j.a.pan Treasure Hunter a.s.sociation and Kansai University, to find out if there are dragons in ‘Tusk Crag" dungeon.”
Officer Doggy announced as she stirred her gla.s.s of oolong tea.
“Since they also want to bring heavy equipment and machinery, the chief has been trying to delay the permit for a variety of reasons, but in the end, he can"t reject it, okay? We"re in the middle of investigating the ident.i.ties of the one hundred treasure hunters, and the weapons they"re bringing one by one right now. ”
“Since it"s in our jurisdiction, so I"ll try and check the details as much as possible and earn time, but no matter how much I try, but it will be in about one month.”
Office Inoue supplemented Officer Doggy"s words.
The explanation was easy enough for even an idiot like me to easily understand.
One hundred treasure hunters? What are they going to do with so many people?
“How long will they be in this town?”
“For the time being, the doc.u.ments they submitted mentioned half a year, but if it is extended, we can"t refuse it once we"ve already approved it.”
It"s already troubling for just half a year, I would not be able to endure if the period is extended.
“Isn"t the investigation just about Tusk Crag?”
We just have to somehow deal with Aoi"s nest and Tusk Crag.
Ah, now there"s even more stuff I have to think about.
“The doc.u.ment says that this town is the center, so probably also the forest behind it or the nearby mountains?”
Give me a break.
I wouldn"t be able to calm down if they wandered near our house.
“Are they taking advantage of the investigation and coming to the government office to apply for TV station coverage?”
“There are rumors that the Eastern j.a.pan Treasure Hunter a.s.sociation is also interested in a stake for the dragon"s rights, so this town is likely to become noisy for some time.”
d.a.m.n it, a bunch of hyenas.
What is fun about poking around other"s homes?
“It"s like a festive event, isn"t it…”
Though the problem is that it isn"t a fun festival.
“I don"t think we"ll be able to approach this house openly once the investigation is started. Otherwise, someone may get suspicious.”
“Is there no problem for me?”
Yuri-san reacted to Officer Doggy"s words.
Nana was sitting on her knees and swinging a ball in front of her face.
Nana was enticed, she moved her face and followed the ball with her eyes.
“Of course. Mom is a civilian. I"d rather have a liaison. The problem is that police officers can"t check up one family every day, it"s too frequent for regular patrols.”
“That"s right…”
Hmm.
The people who know our circ.u.mstances other than our family is Mik.u.ma and the Saeki siblings, Officer Doggy and Inoue, this town"s police chief, and four other police officers that I"ve never met.
Officer Doggy and them would come every day to see if anything is wrong.
Speaking of which, Officer Doggy lives nearby, and when Yuri-san is here, we would also have dinner together.
It gives a sense of security and we"re quite grateful for it.
“I see, only a month away, right? I"ll do whatever I can to prepare.”
“Yeah, please! I"ll keep correspondence over the phone and I"ll let you know what the schedule will be. I"ll ask mom to bring over a copy of the schedule. Be careful over the next few days.”
Shall we go to Aoi"s nest tonight?
Let"s ask for father"s help and bring the furniture over.
There"s a large bed, a closet, and various daily necessities in the nest. It would take Aoi about three round trips in her dragon form.
The forest is considerably dark at night, so we won"t be seen.
“Then we"re going to head back. Mom, I"m going to be late today.”
“Ah, are you going on a date with Toshio-kun? Please let me know if you"re going to come home in the morning, okay?”
“O-obsan!”
“Sorry, it"s work.”
Officer Inoue was agitated by Yuri-san"s words.
His feet b.u.mped into the low table and almost knocked the gla.s.ses over in the process.
Officer Doggy got up with a face like nothing happened and straightened her cap.
She shook her head to tidy up her hair, and her drooping ears shook along with it.
Is it my imagination? Her tail is wagging like crazy.
“See you later.”
“Sorry for the interruption.”
Officer Doggy and Inoue waved at Jaja and Nana in the enclosure.
“Ah!”
“Au”
Jaja, who was chewing on the stuffed dog toy on top of her futon, cheerfully smiled at them, and Nana on Yuri-san"s knee curiously looked back at them.
“Yes, thank you for your work. Let"s say bye-bye to the police officers.”
Yuri-san took Nana"s right hand and slowly shook it.
Nana looked up blankly at Yuri-san.
“Thank you for taking the time to come here.”
I put on my outdoor slippers and followed after the officers who went out into the garden wearing their shoes.
I followed them until the gate and saw them off heading for a police car parked in a vacant lot in front of the house.
“… when are you going to tell your mom?”
“I-I just need to be a bit more prepared.”
“Huh, what are you afraid of?”
“No, I"m not scared.”
“I"m not scared.”
The police officers were quietly arguing about something.
Their conversation became completely inaudible after they got inside the police car.
Fumu. It smells like love.
If even someone who is ignorant of human relationships can understand, then I guess it would be even more obvious to others.
The awfully quiet engine sound soon disappeared along with the police car.
I thought for a bit while looking at the direction where the police car went.
Love, huh.
Aoi and Mik.u.ma both said that they like me.
As a person and a man, I know I have to come to grips with it and deal with it.
But I don"t know the answer.
Regarding Aoi, there are the twins, so I"m not against it. I had no intention of refusing in the first place.
That day, I promised I would take responsibility for the two lives unprepared, but I don"t have the slightest intention of going back on my word.
After the matter with Yule, I realized that I love Jaja and Nana as my own children, they"re cute and I want to watch over them forever.
Then it"s difficult to say what I think of Aoi.
If you ask if I dislike her, I definitely don"t.
I like her straightforwardness and I want to see her hard work and support her.
Aoi, who takes care of the twins, is definitely a gentle mother and I"ll never get tired of watching that.
So, does that mean that I love her?
What do you do with people who you love.
What comes to mind, is a kiss.
A kiss.
Mouth to mouth.
Easy-to-understand expressions of affection seen repeatedly on TV and in movies.
Aoi and I face each other, exuding a sweet atmosphere, and eventually, our silhouettes slowly approach, our lips overlapping as if they were trying to melt together…
What is this?
I can"t imagine it.
Do I want to kiss?
Of course, I"m also a boy of that age.
I am honestly very interested in that kind of knowledge.
I don"t think it"s bad, as a healthy adolescent boy, it"s normal thoughts.
However, if I imagine that Aoi was the one, well, it becomes uncertain.
Since Aoi is quite open towards me, there are quite a few opportunities to see her naked.
I mean, don"t we breastfeed together once a day while topless.
If you think like that, you should be able to use your real image memories to have as many wild delusion as much as you can, but for some reason, only a hazy image comes to mind.
I guess Aoi"s motherly image is too strong.
Her divine image taking care of Jaja and Nana should never be sullied.
Then what about Mik.u.ma Yuno?
This is also clear.
There"s no way Aoi and the twins can have such a relationship with Mik.u.ma.
Then, why can"t I clearly reject her? It"s because I don"t dislike her.
Although I don"t know my feelings for Aoi, I know that I definitely can"t reject Mik.u.ma.
Since I was in elementary school, she was someone who stubbornly maintained her own justice and thoughts, and I even thought she was cool.
I never thought she would get in touch with me because I misunderstood that I was being avoided in middle school.
Although I thought like that, she seems to have been thinking about me forever, and I"m happy, to be honest.
I can"t refuse her feelings that she"s held for such a long time.
Huh?
Aren"t I checkmated?
Even if I like Aoi, the more her image as a mother solidifies, and the further away from love it goes.
But because Aoi is next to me, I can"t accept Mik.u.ma"s feelings.
What is this?
I know.
I know I"m doing terrible things.
Sooner or later, I"ll receive divine punishment.
Because I"m terrible man who is playing with the pure feelings of two girls.
I know that such a half-baked att.i.tude will hurt the most people.
The time of decision will surely come.
No matter how much I run away or how much I hate it, that time will come, it has to come.
Would it be one, or two people crying?
The most likely thing is that they"ll be disgusted with me and both leave.
It"ll probably be like so.
Maybe, I"ll be the one who"s crying.
An early afternoon in May.
A slightly dark shadow was cast over my heart.