"Hmm... there's no use thinking about those things."
Kazusa Touma shook her head, her expression calm as she spoke softly.
"Let's eat first."
"Huh?"
Noticing Setsuna Ogiso's slightly dazed expression, Kazusa Touma raised her pale right index finger and spoke with a serious expression.
"Setsuna, eating on time is very important."
Setsuna pouted and muttered under her breath, "Speaking of which, before you joined the Supernatural Society and started eating the boxed lunches Mai-senpai makes every day... you never ate on time. Even when you did eat, you'd just grab something quick from the convenience store. You're the last person qualified to say that, aren't you?"
"Precisely because I didn't eat properly before, that's why I now understand the importance of eating well better than anyone."
At this point, Kazusa Touma glanced at Setsuna Ogiso's chest and lowered her voice with a laugh.
"And... if you don't eat properly, you won't develop properly, you know."
Hearing this, Setsuna Ogiso's face instantly turned red. She lightly slapped Kazusa Touma's shoulder and scolded, "Stop talking nonsense here. I think you've been infected by Ye Xing."
That being said, however...
Setsuna Ogiso did feel somewhat insecure about her own measurements.
Truth be told, among high school girls her age, she was actually at an average level - neither particularly large nor particularly small.
The problem was that among the members of the Supernatural Society, aside from obvious cases like Rio Futaba and Hana Yurikawa with their exaggerated proportions, and then Marin Kitagawa, Yui Yuigahama, and Mai Sakurajima, who were all quite well-endowed...
Even if you excluded all these people, plus Kazusa Touma with her hidden generous assets, among the remaining members, the only person Setsuna Ogiso felt confident about definitively winning against in a size comparison was Yukino Yukinoshita.
Under such circumstances, it was indeed difficult for her to feel confident.
"Alright, let's first find an inn to stay at. We can discuss our next steps after checking in."
Under Kazusa Touma's arrangements, the three of them booked a room at an inn.
Naturally, it was still just one room.
However, this time it was a room with a paper door as a divider, partitioned explicitly into two sections, with bedding on both sides. This somewhat relieved Setsuna Ogiso, even though she had said she wanted the three of them to be together forever... but they couldn't possibly sleep together at night, could they?
That would be far too absurd. While Kazusa Touma's current personality wasn't as cold and serious as before, it hadn't become abstract to that extent either.
But just after putting down their luggage, Kazusa Touma suddenly took on a mysterious expression, pulling Setsuna Ogiso into the small partitioned area. She gently closed the dividing paper door and lowered her voice.
"Setsuna, do you know how to wear a kimono?"
"Eh?"
Setsuna Ogiso struggled to keep up with Kazusa Touma's jumping train of thought. Initially, when they got out of the vehicle, they were discussing how to retrieve that famous sword, then they talked about eating, and now suddenly she was being asked this kind of question.
Though somewhat confused, Setsuna Ogiso still nodded. Because Kazusa Touma had lowered her voice, she instinctively did the same.
"I do... though I've never worn a kimono outside before, when my mother gave me this kimono set, she taught me how to wear it. Kazusa, you..."
Setsuna Ogiso originally wanted to ask if Kazusa Touma didn't know how to wear a kimono.
But halfway through her sentence, she suddenly remembered the other's family situation - with her mother constantly abroad, they barely saw each other throughout the year, let alone having her mother teach her how to wear a kimono like her own mother had done for her.
Kazusa Touma didn't seem to mind, instead looking directly into Setsuna Ogiso's eyes with a serious expression.
"No, you don't."
"Eh?"
"Didn't understand?"
Kazusa Touma said with a serious tone.
"You don't know how to wear a kimono, understand?"
Setsuna Ogiso still looked somewhat confused.
"But... you don't know how either, and now you're not letting me learn. Then what's the point of us bringing kimonos? No one knows how to wear them."
Kazusa Touma revealed a faint smile and slowly spoke.
"Ye Xing knows. Let him help us wear them."
"Eh?"
Setsuna Ogiso's brain instantly overloaded, not knowing where to begin with her complaints.
First and most importantly...
How would Ye Xing, a boy, know how to wear a kimono? Could it be that he practised specifically for this?
Did this guy actually make special preparations for such a small opportunity that might occur, but most likely wouldn't happen even once in his lifetime!?
That Ye Xing, who always seems lazy and slacking off in daily life, does he only go all out for things like this!?
"But... but..."
Setsuna Ogiso was so shocked by Kazusa Touma's astonishing words that she could barely speak properly.
"Never mind... never mind me pretending not to know how to wear one when I actually do, but having my best friend's boyfriend do something like helping me wear a kimono... such a private matter is just too..."
"Setsuna."
Hearing this, Kazusa Touma placed both hands on Setsuna Ogiso's shoulders and spoke word by word.
"You said you wanted the three of us to be together forever. Was that just casual talk, or were you as serious as I am?"
Setsuna Ogiso quickly replied.
"Of course I was serious, but..."
"No buts."
Kazusa Touma directly interrupted Setsuna Ogiso's following words and continued speaking on her own.
"In our current situation, if we want the three of us to be together forever and never separate, no matter what happens, there are only two paths."
"Which two?"
"The first one."
Before Kazusa Touma even finished speaking, she couldn't help but show a smile on her face.
"You hurry up and reincarnate now. Including queue time, you should roughly make it in time for when Ye Xing and I get married and have children. You become our daughter, that way the three of us can be together forever."
Setsuna Ogiso looked speechless upon hearing this.
"Never mind whether reincarnation actually exists, but the content of your words themselves is so absurd that I don't even know how to respond. I can't even believe these words came from the Kazusa I know... Does Ye Xing carry some highly contagious abstract virus? How have you become assimilated with him, too?"
Kazusa Touma replied with a straight face.
"As the saying goes, couples grow to look alike. When couples become abstract together, that's also a form of couple resemblance."
Setsuna Ogiso: "...Then what's the second path?"
"Join us."
Kazusa Touma's tone was very sincere, even carrying a heartbreaking sadness.
"Setsuna, I want to be with you forever, and I want to be with Ye Xing forever too... Only this way can it be achieved."
Just as the usually indifferent Kazusa Touma couldn't bear to refuse whenever Setsuna Ogiso made a request, for Setsuna Ogiso, whenever Kazusa Touma made a demand - even though this particular demand felt quite absurd to her - she still couldn't refuse.
Setsuna Ogiso took a deep breath, adjusted her emotions, and finally mustered the courage to look at Kazusa Touma, asking the question she had vaguely sensed but never found the opportunity to voice.
"I want to know... Mai-senpai, Miko, Rio, these members of the Supernatural Society... are they all with Ye Xing..."
"Of course not."
Hearing Kazusa Touma's denial, Setsuna Ogiso, before she could even feel relieved, heard the other continue speaking.
"Let me count... Yurikawa-san, Kitagawa-san, Yukino - these three, plus you, make four. All the rest are."
Setsuna Ogiso let out a slight sigh, her expression becoming quite complex.
She never imagined she would encounter such an absurd situation.
In this club, the number of girls the male Captain was two-timing wasn't described by which ones he was involved with, but rather by the process of elimination, which ones he wasn't involved with.
Setsuna Ogiso's thought process went like this:
First, hearing the school rumours, she believed Ye Xing created the Supernatural Society specifically to build a harem, even daring to pursue their homeroom teacher, Shizuka Hiratsuka.
After getting to know them, she discovered it wasn't like that at all - Ye Xing and the members around him weren't as terrifying as the rumours suggested, and there were no daily orgies in the club room.
After deeper involvement, she realised it actually was exactly like the rumours, and what's more, all the members seemed fully aware of each other's situations?
Even during the New Year's Eve gathering, not only were several people from outside the school celebrating together, but their homeroom teacher, Shizuka Hiratsuka, also showed up.
It was even more unbelievable than the rumours suggested.
"Kazusa, you..."
Setsuna Ogiso pressed her lips together and asked cautiously.
"This situation... you... don't you get jealous?"
"Jealous? Of course I do."
Kazusa Touma nodded without hesitation.
"If it's you, I wouldn't be jealous. But when I see Miko and the others sometimes being intimate with Ye Xing, I definitely feel jealous. But looking at it from another perspective, people like Rio Futaba, Miko Yotsuya, Yui Yuigahama, and Mai-senpai all consider each other the most important people, just like how I see you. So they probably don't get jealous."
"However, Ye Xing once said something that I think makes a lot of sense."
Setsuna Ogiso asked curiously, "What was it?"
Before Kazusa Touma could answer, they heard Ye Xing's voice coming from outside the thin door made of wood and paper.
"The pain of a love triangle doesn't come from others being intimate with the male lead, but from the very concept of failure itself. To extend this, it's precisely because it's limited to a single choice that when you realise you're not that choice, you feel pain and sadness. So the best way to eliminate love triangles is to directly change the single choice to select all. When no one is excluded, naturally, no one gets hurt."
Setsuna Ogiso was utterly stunned by this.
These words...
They actually made some sense?
When you won't become the wrong option that gets eliminated, when you know everyone is the correct option... it really doesn't seem so painful anymore.
Setsuna Ogiso felt this deeply because she had personal experience with it.
At that moment downstairs, when she saw Kazusa Touma and Ye Xing kissing in the instrument practice room, she felt the world spinning, her mind went completely blank, her heart felt as if gripped by a hand, and even breathing became painful.
But after realising the true situation...
It seemed she really hadn't felt that way anymore.
Noticing the silence in the compartment, Ye Xing, outside the door, chuckled lightly and spoke.
"The world is like this - wars, conflicts, contradictions, all things that bring people sorrow and misfortune exist because of so-called competition, because there's a line between success and failure. I cannot change the world, nor do I want to, but the least I can do is ensure that the people around me won't experience that frustration and pain. I want to create a reality where there will absolutely be no regrets!"
Setsuna Ogiso was completely stunned by this.
What passionate, righteous, and fervent words.
The problem is, why aren't you usually like this?
"Alright, alright, no need to waste any more breath."
Kazusa Touma directly pulled open the door, beckoning to Ye Xing.
"Come in quickly and help both of us put on our kimonos. I'm hungry and want to go out to eat. Hurry up."
"Right away."
Setsuna Ogiso blushed crimson as she saw Kazusa Touma already reaching out to remove her clothes. She tried to struggle a bit, but against Kazusa Touma, who could physically withstand falling concrete slabs from high altitudes, she was powerless.
In the end, she could only half-heartedly let Ye Xing help her put on the kimono. Although she kept feeling, during the process, that this guy was deliberately taking advantage, fortunately, it eventually got done.
Only at the very end, Kazusa Touma's kimono was actually put on with Setsuna Ogiso's help.
When Setsuna Ogiso asked why it had to be this way, Kazusa Touma gave a simple, unexpected yet completely irrefutable reason.
"I'm afraid if I let Ye Xing change me, by the time we're done... we'd only be able to go out for dinner."
...
Setsuna Ogiso and Kazusa Touma, wearing kimonos, spent the entire day wandering around Amagasaki City with Ye Xing. Although this small city didn't have many noteworthy attractions, just being with these two people, even if just strolling through the streets, made Setsuna Ogiso feel it was the happiest moment of her life.
Just like back when the three of them used to practice together.
After dinner, Kazusa Touma first took out her phone to search for something, then spoke as if she had suddenly realised something.
"Oh dear, we've had too much fun and missed the last train back. Looks like we'll have to stay overnight here."
"I'd say, could your acting be any more clumsy?"
Setsuna Ogisi sighed helplessly.
"You booked the room this morning, we didn't bring any luggage when we came out, and you made me bring a change of clothes. From the very beginning, you never planned to return the same day, did you? Stop acting, stop acting, I'll just go along with your arrangements."
"Hehe, I knew you were the best, Setsuna."
Watching Kazusa Touma rubbing her cheek against Setsuna Ogiso's like a cat, Ye Xing looked deeply moved.
"This is so nice. How about the three of us just sleep together tonight?"
"I agree."
Setsuna Ogiso's face flushed crimson with embarrassment as she lightly patted Kazusa Touma's shoulder.
"What do you mean you agree? I haven't agreed yet! What's with you two? Tag-teaming to force me into this?"
"You could interpret it that way."
At this moment, Setsuna Ogiso felt like a lamb entering the tiger's den.
She had thought Ye Xing was the tiger.
But now she realised... Kazusa Touma was the fiercer one!
...
Half an hour later, at the entrance of a small temple.
"So this is Honkouji Temple..."
Kazusa Touma examined the temple before her, frowning slightly as she murmured to herself.
"It's nowhere near as impressive as Shitennoji Temple."
"Now, now, dear benefactress, that's not quite right."
An elderly monk in grey robes who had been sweeping at the entrance - looking about the same age as Oda Noto - set down his broom upon hearing this. He first pressed his palms together in greeting before speaking with a cheerful smile.
"No matter how grand Shitennouji Temple may be, it still got bombed to rubble, didn't it?"
Hearing this, Ye Xing couldn't help but express admiration.
"My, Master, you're quite blunt. Truly practising what you preach about monks not speaking falsehoods - saying exactly what's on your mind."
The old monk turned to Ye Xing and bowed again.
"What you may not know, benefactor, is that I've been practising the vow of silence since I entered the monastic life at twelve years old."
"Then why are you speaking now?"
"Don't remind me. After nearly twenty years of practice, one day my disciple served me freshly brewed tea that was too hot. I instinctively said 'bloody hell' and broke my vow. Failed the cultivation entirely."
"My, you're quite... unconventional."
"Ah, holding back for so long in my youth - in the end, my virtue and cultivation didn't improve, but I developed this habit of saying whatever comes to mind. Please forgive this old monk's foolishness."
Listening to the old monk's words, both Setsuna Ogiso and Kazusa Touma were at a loss for how to respond.
Seriously... are all the monks at Honkouji Temple this eccentric?
What a legendary life experience.
"Excellent! Since you're being so straightforward, Master, I won't beat around the bush either."
Ye Xing spoke with a smile on his face.
"We've come all the way from Kyoto to see the famous sword kept in your temple - one of the Five Great Swords of Japan, Juzumaru Tsunetsugu."
"Oh dear, benefactor, this request of yours..."
The old monk showed a troubled expression and shook his head.
"Juzumaru Tsunetsugu is our temple's treasure. Unless we have the abbot's permission, it absolutely cannot be brought out."
Before Ye Xing could respond, the old monk suddenly changed his tone and said proudly.
"Fortunately, this old monk happens to be the abbot. Come, let's go see the sword."
Kazusa Touma and Setsuna Ogiso followed behind, watching the old monk and Ye Xing chatting casually ahead as if they had met kindred spirits. The two women couldn't help but exchange glances, their expressions somewhat complicated.
This abbot's personality... is really hard to describe.
After several turns within the temple grounds, the old monk led the three to a room with antique furnishings. Pointing at the long sword displayed in a glass case, its hilt wrapped with a string of black Buddhist prayer beads, which appeared to Ye Xing and Kazusa Touma as enveloped in spiritual light, he slowly spoke.
"Three benefactors, this is our temple's treasure - one of the Five Great Swords of Japan, Juzumaru Tsunetsugu."