Under the faint stars and bright moon, under a cloudless sky, singing echoed—this time as a duet.
Only Shichen could hear it.
Every now and then he even added "percussion" to accompany Yamai Kaguya and Yamai Yuzuru's duet: a steady rhythm of smack-smack-smack, like drumbeats in perfect time.
Accompaniment and duet blended together, in perfect harmony, sweet and intoxicating.
Night passed without anyone really knowing when. The moon was about to set, and a pale light had already begun to brush the eastern sky.
Shichen carried the two girls, who had sung themselves into exhaustion and fallen asleep, out of the bath and back to his room.
They were spirits, after all—no matter how worn out they got from "singing," they'd recover quickly. They'd definitely be fine to catch the ride home today.
Shichen, on the other hand, didn't plan on sleeping.
It was the last day of the school trip. As a teacher, it didn't feel right to slack off.
Even if, technically, none of this had much to do with him.
But he still had to accompany Tohka and the others. After two days of intense studying, they deserved to be spoiled a little.
After gently drying the two girls off and laying them on the bed, pulling the blanket over them, Shichen got dressed and stood at the bedside, looking at their tired expressions.
Two identical faces, wearing the same expression: brows faintly furrowed, cheeks flushed red.
Just like a pair of twins, personalities and all—one tsundere, one languidly calm. Shichen was a little drunk on it and had gotten carried away bullying them.
He really hadn't planned on going that far with them. Who knew Yuzuru would suddenly take the initiative?
Once Yuzuru took the first step, how was he supposed to refuse?
The key turning point was when Yuzuru couldn't hold out and dragged Kaguya in to "help."
By the time Kaguya came back to her senses, she realized she was already being bullied; aside from singing, she couldn't do anything at all.
She didn't dare look at what was happening right in front of her—just threw an arm over her face and pretended she couldn't see anything.
Which, of course, only made Shichen want to bully her even more.
Later on, when Kaguya's mind was basically gone, she decided to switch from defense to offense and try to go toe-to-toe with him—
And then pulled Yuzuru in as well.
Shichen wasn't afraid of the two teaming up—in fact, he was quite happy to cooperate.
But two girls experiencing that kind of thing for the first time were never going to be a match for him.
Good thing they had spirit physiology, plus the blood he'd given them—and there were two of them. That's the only reason they managed to last with him until dawn.
But once they woke up and remembered everything, they'd probably be so mortified they wouldn't dare show their faces.
To this day, he'd rarely seen a girl wake up after something like that and act like nothing happened—or remain truly calm.
Sister-in-law Momo was an exception. She had gone straight for round two.
Sister-in-laws really were the best.
Shichen looked at the two of them, eyes soft. He bent down, reached out, and gently smoothed the tension between their brows, then left the room.
"Shichen! Over here!"
When he arrived at the dining area, Tohka spotted him immediately and waved him over.
Shichen sat down beside her; on his other side was Kurumi.
Origami sat on Tohka's other side. When she saw Shichen sit down, her expression twitched slightly.
She'd been careless—she hadn't expected "Shichen-nii" to come back in time on a free day.
"Heh…" Kurumi noticed her look and immediately slid an arm around Shichen's, hugging it tight as she shot Origami a provocative glance.
"…"
Origami stared back at her in frosty silence.
"So, what do you all want to do today?" Shichen ignored the two and turned to Tohka.
"No more make-up classes today! We can play however we want!" Tohka said, practically buzzing.
She both wanted to go to school and hated class: studying was painful, but having classmates to play with was fun.
"And how do you want to play?" Shichen asked with a grin.
Tohka's bright smile was contagious; he couldn't help but follow suit.
"Hmm~ I have no idea!"
"You sound so proud for someone who doesn't have a plan."
"Hehehe~ As long as you're here, you can just take us around later."
"That's no problem… What about you two?" he asked.
"I'm fine with anything~ Looks like you've already dealt with your 'business,' right?" Kurumi smiled, still clinging to his arm.
He could clearly feel the soft pressure against his arm.
"It's handled," Shichen nodded.
"Then whatever's fine. I'll just follow you."
"And you, Origami?" Shichen asked.
"I don't have anything in particular. I'll just follow you, Shichen-nii," Origami said quietly.
"In that case, let's hit the beach later. I'll set up a barrier so no one disturbs us—we can play beach volleyball or do watermelon smashing, then jump in the water when it gets too hot."
"Barrier?" Origami blinked.
"Oh right, I still haven't explained myself properly to you. You can see for yourself later," Shichen said.
"?"
…
After breakfast, when they arrived at the beach, Origami finally understood why Shichen wasn't afraid of spirits—so this was the kind of power he had.
No wonder he said he would help her.
With power like that, he wasn't much different from a spirit himself.
Of course, Shichen had only shown a tiny fraction of what he could do; it wasn't in his nature to show off.
Right now, playing with Tohka was more important.
All morning, Shichen stuck with the three girls—four people, perfect for two-on-two beach volleyball, plus watermelon smashing.
Although smashing watermelons was too easy for Tohka and the others, they ended up liking volleyball more.
All three wanted to be on his team.
Shichen could only resign himself to fate and rotate partners.
It wasn't too hot in the morning, so they hadn't changed to swimsuits yet—but after lunch, the sun was blazing.
Tohka and the others switched into swimwear.
All three wore bold bikini styles, the colors matching their hair.
Their figures were flawless, with healthy, glowing skin that practically reflected the sunlight.
The bikinis couldn't fully contain their curves—full, tender, snow-white; long, slender legs like polished ivory.
Playing beach volleyball with the three of them made it very hard to stay focused.
Whether it was their pale legs or the way their chests bounced each time they jumped, everything dragged his eyes along.
Shichen was half-dizzy from watching.
He'd seen more than enough before—even when nothing was covered—but somehow it still got him every time.
There was just no getting tired of looking at young, beautiful girls in their primes.
Not that he needed to do much; the three of them were insanely competitive. No matter who partnered with him, she somehow always managed to go one versus two.
Slender arms and legs, but when they spiked the ball, the force was incredible; the cracking sound made it feel like the volleyball might explode.
Shichen wasn't really needed on offense—just as support. After all, he couldn't bear to go hard against the other two; hand and heart both hurt.
And this was supposed to be fun, not a real match. No reason to sweat it.
Luckily, Tohka and the others weren't expecting him to carry them. Just being on his team was enough for them.
Once they were hot and tired, they went swimming in the ocean for a bit, then Shichen took the three back to the inn.
Departure time was drawing near, and he still had to check in on Kaguya and Yuzuru.
Back in his room, he found that the two had woken up, but were still lying in bed, not moving at all.
Awake, but clearly replaying last night in their heads.
"You two are up."
"Eh? What are you doing here?" Kaguya jerked upright in alarm.
"This is my room," Shichen reminded her, walking over to the bed with a smile.
"Your room… Oh. Right…" Kaguya quickly yanked the blanket up over her face to hide her bright-red cheeks.
"Thank you. Shichen." Yuzuru, on the other hand, looked straight at him and thanked him calmly.
"What for? With our relationship now, do you still need to be so polite?" Shichen teased.
"Realization. You're right. Then I won't say thanks," Yuzuru smiled faintly.
"That's better."
"Yuzuru… how are you acting like nothing happened?" Kaguya peeked out from under the blanket and stared at her.
"Question. Why would something be wrong? Shichen was very gentle last night," Yuzuru replied matter-of-factly.
"You… I… Yuzuru, you idiot!" Kaguya squealed and dove right back under the covers.
"Mocking. Why are you so shy, Kaguya? You weren't like that last night. You were so proactive…" Yuzuru added, twisting the knife.
"Idiot! That me last night was not me!" Kaguya yanked the blanket down just enough to shout, then yanked it back up.
"Is that so~" Yuzuru only laughed softly.
"Uu…" Kaguya couldn't bring herself to look at her.
"Hehe~ How are you two feeling? Can you move yet?" Shichen asked.
"Attempt. It seems… not so much. It's a bit…" Yuzuru frowned.
"It's all your fault!" Kaguya shot back, glaring at Shichen with a crimson face.
"I see. I'll give you a little treatment then. We're heading back soon; if you two can't move, that'll be a problem," Shichen said, sitting down at the bedside.
"Treatment? You can do that too?"
"Easy. But I'll have to touch the 'injured area,' so don't move," he said, sliding his hand under the covers.
"Touch the injured—wait—aren't you going to… mm~"
"Heal."