Chapter 540. Romance never stops「 That foreigner is ABCD from yesterday, right? She"s dressed feminine than yesterday it seems 」
Captain Takes.h.i.+ba glares at Edie.
Edie was wearing Nagisa"s shop"s boiler suit yesterday, but today, she"s wearing a stylish white dress with gold accessories.
「 She"s Edie 」
I answer timidly.
Edie laughs as she looks at the grounds.
「 Well, okay. Then, what about her? Who are you? 」
Captain Takes.h.i.+ba"s eyes turn to Mana this time.
Awawa.
When I noticed, not only captain Takes.h.i.+ba and the third years, but also the other members of the track and field club are looking at us.
Well of course.
Megu"s fiance shows up while holding hands with a beauty.
「 Uhm, I 」
Mana tries to talk, but.
「 I"m asking him not you 」
Captain Takes.h.i.+ba stops Mana.
It looks like she"ll persist to ask information about Mana from me.
「 Go on, say it 」
Err, how should I explain it.
I"m troubled.
「 She"s my little sister 」
Turning around, I see Megu in her uniform.
Oh, we were late due to the trouble in front of the mansion"s gate, so she changed clothes in the clubroom first.
「 Little sister? 」
「 Y-Yes, I"m Yamamine Mana. Thank you for always caring for Megu-oneechan 」
Mana bows her head.
「 Huh, Yamamine-san had a little sister? 」
One of the first years on the grounds asks.
She might be someone who entered the same middle school as Megu.
「 Ah, my body was weak, so I stayed over s.h.i.+zuoka for a long time, it"s just been recent that I came back to Tokyo 」
Mana explains.
「 Today, I came with Onii-chan to pick up Megu-oneechan. But, it feels scary to enter a school I don"t know so I asked Onii-chan to hold my hand 」
Mana said. Captain Takes.h.i.+ba listens.
「 I"m in the second year middle school, high school students look like adults to me 」
Mana"s small for her age.
Her excuse is somewhat credible.
「 You"re not lying? 」
「 It"s true. Look at our faces and compare. We"re really connected by blood! 」
Megu and Mana are real sisters. They have different mothers, however.
「 Hmmm, okay fine. Then, what about this foreigner? 」
Captain Takes.h.i.+ba returns her interest to Edie again.
「 Err, she"s 」
When I try to explain Edie…
「 !!! 」
Edie"s expression changed.
She starts sniffing.
Then.
She lets go of my hand.
Then she flips her skirt suddenly?!!!
「 Edie?! 」
Edie"s showing off her white panty and nice a.s.s to the people.
The black case attacked on her tender looking thighs too.
《 HA 》
Edie pulls out a shuriken and throws it on the bushes on the side of the grounds.
Vuuuuoooonn!!!
Michi"s special shuriken has a small hole opening so throwing it in the air creates a distinctive sound.
Zusa! Zusa! Zusa!
Baki!
The last shuriken sounded like it crashed to something metallic.
「 Hieeeeeeeeee!! 」
Then.
Two men roll out of the bushes.
「 W-What are you doing! 」
「 Hey, stop! You idiot! That"s dangerous! 」
These guys are.
Err, who are they again?
If I recall, they"re the second years from the baseball club.
「 What about you two, what are you doing in that place? 」
Captain Takes.h.i.+ba takes action.
「 You"re holding a camera. Are you trying to take peep photos on us?! 」
Oh, the two of them have a video camera in hand.
Edie threw shuriken on the lens" back right away.
「 S-s.h.i.+t, run away! 」
「 Yeah! 」
The two tries to run away, but.
《 SHHAAA!!! 》
Edie dashed so fast that the wind flipped her skirt.
「 T-This guy! 」
The boys try to confront Edie, but.
《 mee!weee!! 》
Edie kicked them, and they got turned over in an instant.
s.h.i.+t.
「 Edie, don"t kill them! 」
《 Don"t Kill!!! 》
Mana shouts in English.
《 WOO! 》
Edie"s fist stops before the man"s forehead.
◇ ◇ ◇
「 Then, what"s your name and year? 」
Captain Takes.h.i.+ba and the track and field club members encircle and capture the men.
「 Err, that 」
「 Uhm. Uhm 」
「 Hurry up. I"m short-tempered 」
Captain Takes.h.i.+ba looks down on the two boys, crossing her arms.
「 Second year, Sugiyama 」
「 Same. Koizumi 」
Ah, I remember now. They"re really from the baseball club.
If I recall, they"re minions of Iwakursan.
「 Hmm, so why are you hiding from the gra.s.s and taking peep photos of us? 」
Captain Takes.h.i.+ba asks the two.
「 T-That"s 」
Sugiyama and Koizumi look at each other"s face.
「 I-It"s because it"s beautiful! 」
「 Y-Yeah, we would like to record the sweat and the youth forever 」
That"s just a lie.
Perhaps, Iwakursan ordered them.
Minaho-neesan"s busy lately, so she hasn"t looked after her.
Especially because Kyouko-san and Miss Cordelia, and s.h.i.+rasaka Sousuke were hiding in the school, Minaho-neesan should be keeping Iwakursan away from the princ.i.p.al"s office.
Iwakursan had a previous offense of leaking information to the underground society so she could attack Nei and me before.
s.h.i.+rasaka Sousuke and Kyouko-san"s presence in the school is a secret n.o.body should know.
But, Minaho-neesan"s att.i.tude looks like she"s ignoring Iwakursan, she doesn"t like it it seems.
That"s when I entered the gate together with Edie and Mana.
She must"ve sent them to check on us.
If she finds a weak point on us, then she can use it as a card to attack us.
She"s not permitted to use the monitoring system in the school, so she used her cameras.
I look around.
Ah, there she is.
Iwakursan is hiding behind the tree outside the grounds.
「 Wow, you"re the worst, I was wearing shorts today 」
「 My bra strings were seen through too 」
「 Voyeurism isn"t a joke! 」
「 What did you plan on using that for?! 」
The girls in the track and field speak complain to Sugiyama.
「 I"d like to check the photos, but this is completely broken 」
Captain Takes.h.i.+ba looks at Sugiyama"s video camera.
Edie"s shuriken pierced it deeply that it destroyed the interior machine.
「 Captain, the memory card might be alive, how about taking out the card and look at it through other cameras? 」
One of the members raised her hand and said.
「 Memory? 」
Captain Takes.h.i.+ba looks for the slot.
Then, Edie comes forward.
She stretches her hand, gesturing to hand the video camera as she smiles.
「 Do you know where it is? 」
Captain hands over the camera.
Edie pulls out the memory card from the camera.
「 Oh, thanks 」
Then, she takes out an electric lighter from her skirt and burns the memory card.
「 ???! 」
The intense heat melts down the memory card.
The lighter seems to be order-made too.
Edie smiles.
《 That"s OK! 》
Captain Takes.h.i.+ba.
「 Yeah, well, the worries of the future disappeared with that 」
She stared at me.
「 What"s with her? 」
Err.
「 Edie-chan likes to play Ninja 」
Mana gave up on thinking.
「 Look, j.a.panese ninjas are very popular among the Americans currently that they even have ninja Dojo over there. Edie-chan came from there 」
Err.
「 Ah, I"ve seen those in TV. It has American people doing ninja things in a ninja cla.s.sroom or something 」
One of the club members said.
「 So that"s the reason for her high physical ability? 」
Captain Takes.h.i.+ba speaks amazed.
「 It"s not just ninja cla.s.sroom, she seems to have done other martial arts too. I don"t know the details though 」
Megu also complements the story.
「 Then, she wanted to go study at a j.a.panese school, by all means, so she"s transferred to ours 」
Megu said. Edie"s smiling.
「 Then, why is this girl with you? 」
Captain Takes.h.i.+ba asks us.
「 You see, Edie-chan"s family has a deal with the company Yos.h.i.+-kun"s father works for so she"s staying over at Yos.h.i.+-kun"s house 」
Megu, well done on making this. As expected, she"s smarter than I am.
「 But, she"s like this so if Yos.h.i.+-kun doesn"t hold her hand then she"ll go somewhere else right away, so he has no choice but to hold her hand 」
Megu made the story more coherent.
「 I"m aware of it, she"s not a bad kid, I won"t be jealous even if she"s holding hands with Yos.h.i.+-kun 」
Captain Takes.h.i.+ba.
「 Does this girl understand j.a.panese? 」
「 No, she"s American so she can"t speak j.a.panese yet 」
I replied.
「 We"re able to speak to each other with broken English 」
Captain Takes.h.i.+ba looks at the club members,
「 Hiramatsu, you"re good at English, right? Try talking to this foreigner 」
What?
「 Try asking this foreigner if what they"re saying is true 」
T-T-This is bad!
Will Edie be able to read the situation?
If she talks about something unnecessary, it"ll become a more significant problem.
「 Hiramatsu"s a returnee, so her English is perfect, how many years has it been? 」
「 I was in New York starting first grade in elementary until the second year in middle school 」
Isn"t that really bad?
「 Then, try talking to her 」
「 Okay 」
Hiramatsu talks to Edie.
Edie smiles.
The two continues to talk for a while.
「 How is it, Hiramatsu? 」
Captain Takes.h.i.+ba asks.
「 Captain, I can"t. I don"t get what she"s talking about. I can"t follow the details 」
「 What do you mean? 」
「 Her English is a bit out of the ordinary 」
Hiramatsu-san replies with a troubled look.
「 Ah, Edie-chan"s from New Orleans 」
Mana said.
「 Oh 」
Hiramatsu-san"s convinced.
「 What"s with New Orleans? 」
Captain Takes.h.i.+ba asks. Hiramatsu-san;
「 Those from New Orleans have a strong southern accent and a peculiar English coming from the French immigrants. They say it"s Cajun culture 」
「 Is the accent too much? 」
「 Yes, it"s hard even for me 」
No, it"s true that Edie"s accent is strong, but.
Mana"s able to communicate with her.
There"s no chance for someone who lived in America for years like Hiramatsu-san to not communicate properly.
In short.
Edie"s reading the atmosphere.
That"s why she strengthened her New Orleans accent and played out so Hiramatsu-san can"t understand.
「 Anyway, she did say that Yamamine is her family. They"re trustworthy, she added 」
Hiramatsu-san said.
Edie in question picks up the shuriken sticking on the camera.
Then, she slaps my shoulder.
She points at the bush Sugiyama was hiding earlier.
「 Yeah, I get it. Let"s look for it together 」
I answered Edie.
「 What"s wrong, Onii-chan? 」
Mana looks at me wondering.
「 She wants to collect the shuriken she threw earlier. Michi gave Edie those, so she wants to take good care of them 」
I go to the bushes with Edie.
She gave Rei-chan a piece earlier, but that was because she wants to encourage Rei-chan.
It"s a significant act for Edie.
She thinks of Rei-chan as her precious family, so she handed her treasured shuriken to her.
「 Wait, Onii-chan, I"ll look for them too! 」
Mana also comes running.
She crawled on the bushes.
「 Edie, your panty"s visible! Don"t turn your a.s.s on us! 」
Edie nodded and turned her body away.
Sugiyama and others are watching so I"d like you to be a bit more careful.
「 Edie-chan, there"s one stuck here 」
Mana finds one stuck on the ground.
Edie also retrieves another.
The last one is stuck in a tree. I pull it out.
「 Here, Edie 」
《 Thank You 》
Edie smiles; wiped away the dirt on the shuriken and placed it back in her skirt.
Then, she sticks her hand to me.
「 Yeah 」
I grabbed her hand and came back to the club members.
「 Onii-chan 」
Mana extends her hand too.
「 Sure, Mana 」
I hold hands with Mana too, and we walk back together.
「 Oh, I get it now. I"m convinced 」
Captain Takes.h.i.+ba tells me.
「 What? 」
「 It"s your hand 」
AH!
s.h.i.+t, I held hands with Edie and Mana naturally again.
「 You"re very caring, aren"t you? 」
「 No, that"s 」
「 You idiot, I"m praising you 」
Captain Takes.h.i.+ba smiles.
「 I somehow understand what"s your relations.h.i.+p with them, Yamamine doesn"t look like she minds it, so I have no right to say anything about it 」
Oh, she understood.
「 By the way, this girl, Edie? She"ll really transfer to our school, right? 」
「 Ah, yes, that"s the plan 」
「 Then, tell her this 」
Captain Takes.h.i.+ba.
「 There are much more splendid martial arts in j.a.pan other than ninjutsu. You should do them 」
No way.
「 That martial arts is “athletics” Look at oneself and hone one skill. It"s the best martial arts in the world! 」
Captain Takeks.h.i.+ba"s view of athletics is that it"s also a martial arts.
「 By the way, Captain, what should we do with them? 」
The third-year club member points at Sugiyama and the other.
「 Right, these guys tried to take photos of us. We need to penalize them 」
「 Uhm, captain Takes.h.i.+ba 」
I secretly point on Iwakursan who"s hiding to the captain.
「 I know. This is a problem the female track and field club faces so I"ll talk to her 」
Ah, she noticed.
「 My eyesight is 2.0 you know 」
She shows off her big eyes and smiled.
「 You lot can go now, there"s a lot of work in your house, right? 」
Oh right.
「 Well then, we"ll excuse ourselves 」
「 Everyone, I"ll be leaving early. I"m very sorry for the troubles for the holidays 」
Megu bows her head to the members of the club.
She took a day off from practice and yesterday, she left early.
Megu"s a first year, so she actually needed to clean up and yet;
「 Really sorry. I apologize as well! 」
I bow my head too.
Edie and Mana also bowed together.
「 It"s inevitable, your house has a problem. It must be a lot of trouble for you too, you had a foolish man as a relative 」
Captain Takes.h.i.+ba"s referring to Megu and Mana"s father.
「 But, it will all end today 」
Megu said.
s.h.i.+rasaka Sousuke pa.s.sed away this morning.
He was transferred to another hospital and perhaps killed off by s.h.i.+rasaka house there.
「 I"ll work my hardest in the club activities from tomorrow onwards. I look forward to working with everyone! 」
Megu said.
「 Well, it"s unfortunate that Yamamine won"t be on the closing party. The summer convention is also coming close. I"ll be training you hard starting tomorrow 」
「 Thank you! 」
Captain Takes.h.i.+ba looks at me.
「 Take care of Yamamine 」
「 Yes, I know 」
Mana calls Megu.
「 Onee-chan, you can have Onii-chan"s side 」
「 Thanks, Mana 」
They only look like close sisters from the outside.
「 Then, excuse us 」
We bow our head to the track and field club members once again and left the ground.
◇ ◇ ◇
「 Earlier, I said that I"m not jealous, but 」
The sun"s down already.
Megu speaks while we walk around the school.
「 I"m actually a bit jealous 」
She looks at me.
「 Huh? 」
「 Yos.h.i.+-kun, since when did you get along with Edie-san? 」
Edie"s holding my hand, smiling.
「 Earlier, I guess? 」
「 Earlier? 」
「 Earlier, I took a bath with Edie? 」
「 Together, bath? 」
「 No, with Misuzu, Ruriko, Mana, and Agnes too 」
Megu"s eyes look at me.
「 Hmmm, what did you do in the bath? 」
Err.
「 They licked my whole body, and I e.j.a.c.u.l.a.t.ed 」
「 I see 」
「 No, back then, Edie wasn"t there, she came to the bathroom after that 」
「 A lot happened while I was away 」1
Megu.
I hug Megu, kiss her.
「 Yos.h.i.+-kun? 」
「 You"re now, here with me 」
「 Sorry 」
「 It"s okay 」
「 You"re right, I can"t get jealous on every single thing 」
Then, Edie comes to me.
《 darling! 》
Huh?
She sticks out her face to me.
She wants a kiss too?
「 Not now 」
I said.
Iwakursan might have other minions in school.
My relations.h.i.+p with Megu is recognized by the school but not Edie.
It would be hard if they make strange rumors.
《 MOOO! 》
Edie breathes out in ill-humor, but this is all I can do.
Hmm.
Mana tells Edie something.
Then, Edie"s expression softens.
《 OK、darling! 》
「 Mana, what did you tell Edie? 」
Mana;
「 Onii-chan"s embarra.s.sed. Besides, he wants to kiss Edie-chan in a romantic situation 」
Haa.
A romantic situation with Edie?
「 Yos.h.i.+-kun, I want to make it romantic too 」
Megu said.
「 Onii-chan. Mana wants it to be romantic too! 」
The three beauties cuddle with me.
◇ ◇ ◇
「 Nagissan and others are already here 」
Megu checks her mail on her phone in front of the school gate.
《 darling!darling! 》
Edie approaches me with her eyes s.h.i.+ning.
She points at the vending machine.
Oh right, she likes vending machines.
「 Sure, buy some 」
I take out my wallet.
「 Ah, Onii-chan I"ll go buy it with Edie-chan 」
「 I see, then take care 」
「 What does Onii-chan want? 」
「 I"d like some tea. I feel a bit thirsty 」
「 What about Megu-oneechan? 」
「 Sports Drink. Lemon flavor. The non-carbonated 」
「 Okay 」
Mana goes with Edie carrying my wallet.
Oh right, Mana doesn"t have money at all.
I have to think about that too.
How much does a girl in second-year middle school have for their pocket money?
Mana"s a lady from s.h.i.+rasaka house so she might"ve received quite a lot.
I need to start a part-time job so I can hand money to Mana.
「 Yos.h.i.+-kun, what are you thinking? 」
Megu asks me.
「 Nothing, just Is.h.i.+da Kazhus.h.i.+ge from the past 」
「 Is.h.i.+da? 」
「 When his fief was still 500 jewels worth, he wanted to get a competent va.s.sal and used all of his jewels 」
「 I see 」
What am I talking about?
「 Edie-san"s calling Yos.h.i.+-kun Darling, isn"t she? 」
Megu mutters.
「 Oh right. Was she saying Darling? 」
I only hear D something but.
Was 《 darling 》ダーリン?
「 Eh, you didn"t notice? 」
「 Well, I don"t get English 」
Yeah.
「 What does darling mean? 」
Megu bursts out laughing.
「 Huh, Megu? 」
「 Geez, Yos.h.i.+-kun 」
She laughs loudly.
「 That"s what I love about you, Yos.h.i.+-kun 」
That"s what?
Oh right.
「 Look, Megu 」
「 What? 」
I have to tell her.
「 Yukino decided to go to Green Mountain Studio on her will 」
「 I see 」
「 She won"t be my family. Yukino and I both know that.
Megu.
「 Are you okay with that? 」
I.
「 Yeah, I am. I have Megu and everyone. A family I must protect 」
I look at Mana and Edie having fun buying juice at the vending machine.
Megu holds my hand.
「 Then, I won"t mind it anymore2 」
She cuddles up with me.
「 If Yos.h.i.+-kun made his decision already then… 」
1. When Megu"s away, Yos.h.i.+ will play
2. Top ten anime lies