And on the way home, Yoshino Ayaka didn't know whether she had been stirred up by today's events, or if it came from some other place in her mind.
Her mouth kept running nonstop, pouring out one complaint after another to Hikari.
Maybe it was because she and Hikari had had such deep contact that their relationship had taken a breakthrough step forward.
Or maybe it was the loneliness she had held in for years, now too hard to bury any longer.
Either way, all sorts of private matters about her came tumbling out in a heap to Hikari.
Yoshino Ayaka told the story of her life, her family, her marriage.
And within the focus of her family and marriage, she dwelt in particular on her husband's inadequacy and incapacity, and on her loneliness after marriage.
From the time she had married as a lady of a good family, she had spent most of her years alone at home, keeping to an empty chamber for she didn't know how many years, and so on.
She even told Hikari truthfully about the most private things, how no one touched her, so how many times a week she had to amuse herself out of sheer loneliness, all of it, exactly as it was.
Hikari didn't have much to say to all this, and could only offer soft comforts from time to time.
Still, from Yoshino Ayaka's account, Hikari also got a general sense of her situation.
She really was starved for love to the extreme, fertile ground left dry for many years. No wonder she had placed her faith in a religious group like the Queen's Society.
And as Yoshino Ayaka kept talking, she naturally leaned into Hikari's embrace, seeking the warmth of comfort.
She didn't even notice when the car drove back into the city and stopped beneath the mansion where she lived.
"Miss Yoshino, we're at your house."
Hikari parked the car and said to the dignified lady, who by now had most of her full, voluptuous body resting against him.
"Ah! I'm sorry! I was rude!", Yoshino Ayaka, who had just lost control of her emotions, hurriedly sat up, finally realizing her behavior was improper.
It was a good thing Hikari's driving skills were strong enough, or they could easily have had an accident.
"Hikari-kun, if I go home first, what will you do? How about I take you home first?", Yoshino Ayaka asked Hikari with concern.
"It's fine, I'll just take a cab back later," Hikari said.
"Well... all right. Come to think of it, I'm really grateful to you today, Hikari-kun. My husband probably won't come home tonight either. Would you... like to come up for a bit and have some tea before you leave?", Yoshino Ayaka suddenly spoke up with an invitation.
Gazing into her large, watery eyes, which held a charming and hazy look, Hikari knew that this tea invitation was probably not so simple.
Before coming back, they had already agreed to forget about having held the Queen's Ritual together today.
But after venting her lonely feelings in the car, Yoshino Ayaka seemed unwilling to let it go.
Now she had even specifically pointed out that her husband wasn't home, it was almost an obvious invitation for snu-snu.
Yet faced with this alluring beautiful woman's invitation, Hikari still shook his head and refused, "It's getting late. I'd better skip the tea."
Back at the Queen's Society's training hall, the evil god Itsuki Shima had been lurking and watching from the side.
So to avoid exposure, he had had no choice but to perform the Queen's Ritual with Yoshino Ayaka, and had to perform it well, thoroughly, and completely.
But now they had left the Queen's Society, for the two of them to keep doing anything more didn't seem quite right.
Especially taking advantage of her husband's absence to go back to her house with Yoshino Ayaka and misbehave in their marital bedroom, that sort of thing.
Even if she was the one inviting him, it still felt off.
"Then... all right," Hearing Hikari's refusal, Yoshino Ayaka lowered her head, her fingers twisting the hem of her skirt, her expression full of disappointment.
"Spending the night alone in an empty house really is frightening...", Yoshino Ayaka murmured quietly.
Maybe it was because she had received comfort after so long, but at nearly thirty years old, her state of mind was remarkably like a little girl's right now, and her voice even carried a hint of tears.
Seeing the hard-to-hide dejection on the beautiful woman's face, along with her cheeks still flushed with an odd rosy warmth, Hikari softened a little.
Besides, in order to suppress the evil god Itsuki Shima and protect pure love, he really did still need to obtain Queen's power from Yoshino Ayaka.
"Miss Yoshino, wait a moment," Hikari spoke up at once, calling out to Yoshino Ayaka, who was reluctantly about to open the car door and leave.
"Huh? Hikari-kun, do you have something else to say?", Yoshino Ayaka turned back, looking at him with both puzzlement and expectation.
"I don't want to go up for tea, but since you still seem to be affected by the Awakening Orchid incense from the Queen's Society, how about I help you get rid of some more of its effects?", Hikari asked.
"Huh? H-here?", Hearing Hikari's words, Yoshino Ayaka was first disappointed, then her face lit up with surprise, but looking at the cramped interior of the car, she hesitated.
"Yeah, right here," Hikari nodded in confirmation.
"Then... all right!", Yoshino Ayaka didn't even hesitate for a full second. As soon as Hikari's words fell, she threw herself over to the driver's seat and eagerly settled into Hikari's lap.
———
At the same time...
[The Tsubakihara House]
Tsubakihara Mira had sent Hikari a message not long ago, telling him to come back to the Tsubakihara house to sleep.
Now the doorbell rang, and she hurried over to open the door.
But when the door opened, Miss Mira paused for a moment.
Because standing outside was not her familiar foster son Hikari, but two pretty, cute blue-haired girls.
"Kaede and Suzu? Why are you two here?"
———
The twilight, like melted caramel, slowly soaked through the streets of Tokyo. The porch light of the Tsubakihara residence had just come on, casting a warm ring of light into the deepening dusk.
"Good evening, Miss Mira~"
"Long time no see, Mrs. Mira."
Two voices sounded almost at once, the first lively as skipping notes, the second as calm as still water.
Tsubakihara Mira, standing inside the doorway, froze for a moment.
Under the warm yellow light, the two girls stood side by side, their faces bearing an eighty-percent likeness, like reflections in a mirror, their glossy blue short hair stirring gently in the evening breeze.
The only notable difference was their eye color, the left girl's eyes were clear water-blue, while the right girl's were a quiet amber.
Miss Mira blinked, then broke into a delighted, almost disbelieving smile.
"Kaede and Suzu? Is it really you?"
"Yes, it's me, Kaede~!", The girl with water-blue eyes, Hoshizuki Kaede, beamed and waved, the silver chain on her wrist jingling as she moved.
"I'm Suzu," The girl with amber eyes, Hoshizuki Suzu, bowed expressionlessly, her movements as precise as a textbook on etiquette.
"It really is you two!", Once she confirmed their identities, Miss Mira's smile bloomed fully. She stepped over the threshold and without a word pulled the twin sisters into a hug.
Her faint lavender scent and overly generous bosom engulfed both girls at once, "I haven't seen you two in years!"
Both Kaede and Suzu felt a little breathless from being smothered.
"Mmm... Miss Mira...", Hoshizuki Kaede's voice was muffled in the fabric.
Hoshizuki Suzu quietly stopped struggling, like a doll that had given up resistance.
After a few seconds, Mira finally realized her excitement might have caused a suffocation hazard and quickly let them go.
Both sisters took a deep breath at the same time, their cheeks flushed with a faint pink.
"Sorry, sorry, it's been so long," Mira stepped back half a pace, her gaze tenderly sweeping over their faces.
Then, as if recalling something, she said, "Didn't you move away with your family? What brought you back all of a sudden?"
The Hoshizuki family had once been the neighbors living across from the Tsubakihara house.
Back then, the young Kaede and Suzu had come running over to play with Hikari almost every day, and Mira had come to think of the adorable twins as almost like her own daughters.
But several years ago, they had moved away from Tokyo due to their mother's job transfer, and contact had gradually grown sparse.
"Mom's job is being transferred back here," Hoshizuki Kaede explained, straightening her rumpled collar, "Our house has been sitting empty, we never sold it, so we're planning to move back in."
Hoshizuki Suzu nodded and added, "Mm. We'll start unpacking tomorrow."
"Wow! That's great! Then I'll get to see you two little cuties every day again!", After hearing what the Kaede and Suzu sisters had to say, Tsubakihara Mira's face lit up with joy, and her hands reached out toward the two girls again, not staying still.
"Oh my, you're both grown-up young ladies now. You've really developed a lot."
"Especially you, little Suzu, you're even a size bigger than your sister. Not bad at all!"
Feeling Miss Mira's hands roaming around measuring them, Hoshizuki Kaede and Hoshizuki Suzu both blushed a little.
"Miss Mira, we're not little kids anymore!", Hoshizuki Kaede was a little overwhelmed.
"That's right. My sister's been wanting a boyfriend for a while now," Hoshizuki Suzu, on the other hand, showed no reaction to Miss Mira's hands, keeping her expression blank, and even threw in a jab at her older sister.
"Ah! Sorry, sorry! It's just been so long since I've seen you two, I got a little nostalgic. My apologies," Seeing the blushing faces of Kaede and Suzu, Miss Mira flashed a knowing smile and spoke apologetically.
"Please, come in first!", With that, Miss Mira led Kaede and Suzu inside.
The Tsubakihara living room was filled with the scent of black tea.
Miss Mira had just set out the porcelain cups painted with cherry blossom patterns on the coffee table and was about to pour tea for the Kaede and Suzu sisters when, Hoshizuki Kaede, unable to spot the familiar figure she was looking for, could no longer contain herself and blurted out, "Miss Mira, where's Hikari-kun? Is he home?"
Miss Mira's fingers paused for a fraction of a second as she poured, but she recovered within half a beat.
She looked up, her elegant smile on her beautiful face flawless: "You mean Hikari-chan? He's not home~"
"I see... where did Hikari-kun go?", Hoshizuki Kaede pressed further.
The black tea poured into the cups, sending up wisps of steam. Miss Mira's voice came through the mist, tinged with a faint, elusive hint of reproach, "Hikari is always so busy these days. He often doesn't come home at night. I don't know exactly where he goes either, it's been quite a worry."
She gently pushed the teacups toward Kaede and Suzu, then looked up at Hoshizuki Kaede with a deepening smile, "Kaede really cares about Hikari, doesn't she? You came in and immediately started asking about him."
Seeing the teasing smile on Miss Mira's face, Hoshizuki Kaede realized she had been a little too eager. Her pretty face turned visibly red.
Her fingers unconsciously twisted the hem of her skirt as she stammered defensively, "I-It's not like I care that much!"
"I was just... I was just curious because I haven't seen him in so long!"
"Oh? Just curious, really?", Miss Mira propped her chin on one hand, smiling as she looked at Hoshizuki Kaede's youthful, innocent face, now fully grown and in the prime of her youth.
"Y-yes! I mean, we used to play together all the time when we were kids, so of course I'm curious about what he's like now," Hoshizuki Kaede coughed lightly, having found a perfectly good reason for her concern about Hikari.
But Hoshizuki Suzu, who had been silent all along, suddenly spoke up, her calm voice delivering a deadpan counterattack:
"Sister, we also used to play with Miss Mira's daughters when we were little. Why don't you ask where Yuna-nee and Nina-nee are, and only care about Hikari-kun?"
"I-I...", Caught off guard by her sister, who knew her too well, Hoshizuki Kaede's face flushed crimson as she whipped her head around to glare at Hoshizuki Suzu.
"Haha! It's perfectly normal to care about a childhood friend," Miss Mira, who had been the one to ask first, now stepped in to smooth things over.
"Unlike Hikari-kun, who's never home, Yuna and Nina are both here. They're probably in the bath or upstairs in their rooms right now."
Miss Mira stood up, pretending to ponder, "Now then, should I call Hikari-kun first and tell him to come back? Or should I go upstairs and get Yuna and Nina to come keep you two company?"
The air went still for a moment.
Then Kaede and Suzu spoke at the same time.
"See Yuna-nee and Nina-nee first."
"Call Hikari-kun first."
The Kaede and Suzu sisters spoke simultaneously, but their answers were completely opposite.
The twins turned to look at each other, Hoshizuki Kaede's eyes wide with shock, Hoshizuki Suzu still expressionless.
"Ara~ Ara~", Seeing this amusing scene, Miss Mira couldn't help but smile, "You two sisters don't agree for once. Which one should I listen to?"
"Well...", Hoshizuki Kaede hesitated.
Hoshizuki Suzu, however, answered decisively, "Listen to me!"
Under the gaze of her sister Kaede and Miss Mira, Hoshizuki Suzu continued calmly, "Because I really do want to see Hikari-kun again."
Miss Mira raised her eyebrows in surprise, while Hoshizuki Kaede held her breath nervously.
But then Suzu added one more line, "Of course, Kaede wants to see Hikari-kun even more than I do."
"Pfft~!", Miss Mira finally couldn't help but laugh out loud.
"Suzu!", Hoshizuki Kaede shot up from the sofa, her face as red as a ripe apple.
"All right, all right, since you agree, I'll call Hikari-kun and tell him to come back right away," Mira wiped a tear from the corner of her eye and pulled out her phone from her pocket.
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