A few days later, the Tenou Festival finally began.
Tengu City turned into one big celebration—decorations everywhere, crowds everywhere.
From early morning the whole city was loud and bustling, a constant roar of noise.
That was what woke Shichen up.
Voices kept drifting to his ears so he couldn't fall back asleep, even though he was in the middle of a very pleasant "gentle spring breeze."
He opened his eyes helplessly and glanced left and right at the two identical faces—Kaguya and Yuzuru—sleeping toward him. Without disturbing them, he used teleportation to slip out of bed.
Unlike him, their hearing wasn't that sharp; they were still sleeping soundly. Of course, it might also have been because they were exhausted from last night.
It was already getting late. Shichen put on his clothes, left the room, and headed to the kitchen to make breakfast.
He had to make more today. Everyone needed to be full if they wanted the energy to enjoy the Tenou Festival.
Before breakfast was done, Tohka was the first to wake up. Following the smell, she trotted into the kitchen.
"Good morning, Shichen~"
"Morning."
"Smells so good~"
In her pink nightgown, long purple hair loose down her back, Tohka looked soft and elegant as she stepped in, eyes shining at the food.
"You little glutton, wait a bit," Shichen said, amused by the way she was drooling with her eyes.
"Eeeh~ Let me have just a little taste first~" Tohka moved closer, grabbed his arm, and shook it, putting on her best spoiled act.
"You haven't brushed your teeth," he reminded her.
"I'll go right now!" Tohka immediately let go and dashed out of the kitchen.
Watching her quick, bouncing retreat, Shichen shook his head with a smile and went back to cooking.
Tohka washed up fast; in no time she was back.
"Shichen~ I brushed my teeth and washed my face. Can I eat now?"
"Yeah? Let me see." Shichen set down what he was doing and turned toward her.
"Smell for yourself—ah~"
Tohka stepped up, tipped her head back, closed her eyes, and opened her mouth.
Her lips were soft and pink like cherry blossom petals; her tongue was small and delicate, and her teeth were neat and bright.
Shichen leaned in and sniffed, catching a strong whiff of toothpaste.
"Yup, you did brush."
"Then… mmph!"
Just as Tohka opened her eyes happily, his face was suddenly right in front of hers.
She stared blankly into his eyes, tongue tangled with his before she even registered what was happening, until she ran out of air and her pretty face turned red from lack of breath.
Only then did Shichen pull away on his own.
"Alright, go ahead and eat. But don't eat too much yet; the others aren't up." He rubbed her head with a laugh as she stood there dazed.
"Oh…"
Realizing she'd just been kissed, Tohka obediently went to grab food, cheeks rosy—but whatever she bit into, all she could think about was the feeling of his tongue entwined with hers.
It left her a little spaced out.
...
After breakfast, Shichen headed out with everyone to take part in the Tenou Festival.
To avoid being swarmed, he cast a concealment buff over them. Regular people wouldn't even notice them.
"Darling~ I missed you so much~"
When they met up with Izayaoi Miku, she threw herself straight into Shichen's arms, not caring in the slightest who was watching.
"Wait! Who's that?"
"That's Izayaoi Miku!"
"She's that Miku!"
"And she's all over Shichen like that?!"
"Since when?!"
"…You really don't care about the people around us, do you?" Shichen patted Miku's back, signaling her to get down.
"Eeh~ I've been looking forward to this all night, I'm not holding back," Miku replied coyly.
"Great, thanks to you, everyone's staring now."
"Hm? What do you mean, Darling?" Miku tilted her head, confused.
"Let's just go. It's too crowded here." Shichen took her hand and started walking down the street.
Tohka and the others hurried to follow.
"Shichen! Who is she exactly?"
"Ahh~ Shichen's having an affair~"
"Cheating on us behind our backs…"
"Don't stir things up. It's not like you don't know about Miku already."
"Darling~ these are the other Spirits you mentioned? Where are we going anyway? Isn't the city packed today?"
"Take another look around."
"Around…? Huh? Why does it feel like they can't see us at all? Did you do this, Darling?" Miku looked around and realized people were just… ignoring them, walking right past. Given what they looked like, there was no way they'd go unnoticed under normal circumstances.
"This is what I meant earlier. Normally, we'd never be noticed," Shichen explained.
If Miku hadn't been such a glaring presence and walked right up to them, no one would've seen them at all.
That was the only downside of this technique.
He did have other options; he was just used to using this one.
"As expected of Darling, so amazing!" Miku praised him without holding back.
"Shichen, what's your relationship with her?" Tohka asked again, clearly unhappy.
"What relationship? I already called him Darling; what do you think?" Miku hugged Shichen's arm and tossed the question back at Tohka.
"'Darling'? What's that supposed to mean?"
"You don't know? It means 'my love'."
"M-my love?!"
"Haha~ how pure. I guess Darling hasn't done anything to you yet," Miku teased.
"Alright, let me introduce you properly first," Shichen cut in before the bickering escalated.
He went down the line, introducing Tohka and the others to Miku; they'd all heard of her—even seen her on TV—but she hadn't met them.
"So everyone here is a Spirit?"
"I'm not," said Yamauchi Sawa, walking beside Tokisaki Kurumi.
"Hm? Really? But you feel a bit… different." Miku studied her.
"I used to be a Spirit," Sawa replied bluntly.
"What do you mean?"
"You've met the First Spirit, right? Didn't she give you a crystal?"
"You mean the Spirit Crystal?"
"That's the one. It was forged out of lots of people's lives," Sawa nodded.
"Forged…? You mean…" Miku's expression changed.
"Yeah. All the people before you died because they couldn't adapt to it," Sawa said quietly.
"That's… and you?"
"You could say I got lucky—Shichen saved me," Sawa smiled.
"I see… no wonder I sensed something familiar from you." Miku's eyes flashed.
"Maybe that's why I still look this young even though I'm an old auntie inside," Sawa joked.
"Sawa, what 'old'? You look just like a high schooler," Shichen reassured her.
"Hehe~ as expected of Shichen, I like you," Sawa said boldly.
"Sawa, you…" Kurumi stared at her, half shocked, half flustered.
"Aww, Sansan, you're way too shy. There are so many rivals here—we've got to be brave and say what we feel."
"I… I…" Kurumi was too embarrassed to answer. With this many people around, her courage tended to vanish, only popping out at the oddest times.
Girls really were hard to read.
"Okay, okay. If you keep chatting, you won't have time to do anything fun," Shichen reminded them.
"Oh, right, I almost forgot!"
"There are stalls I have to try!"
"Since we've hit it off already, how about we just all hang together?" Miku suggested.
"It's not like we have a choice," Kotori said dryly.
She knew why they were really here: the plan was to gather all the Spirits. As his "little sister," she could only cooperate.
"Little sister-chan, huh."
"You too?" Kotori squinted at her.
"Haha~ looks like we're on the same wavelength," Nia chuckled.
"Wait, Miku, let me ask you something first," Shichen said suddenly.
"Darling, what is it?"
"You don't… have any special preferences, right?"
"Special preferences?" Miku blinked.
"Like, say, liking to cuddle other girls."
"How could I possibly like girls? Why would Darling think that of me?" she shook her head.
"Good… with what you went through, I had to be sure."
"Didn't Darling help me through that already?" Miku smiled softly.
"As long as you're alright. Then let's just enjoy today together."
"Shichen, you still haven't told me why you're so close with her," Tohka pressed, still not letting go of that question.
"Tohka, let me tell you something very serious," Shichen said, putting on a straight face.
"W-what?" Tohka stiffened nervously.
"If we keep dawdling like this, we won't be able to buy anything good to eat."
"WHAT? That won't do! I have to try all the food!"
"See how serious this is? If we don't hurry, all the tourists will eat everything first."
"N-no way! Shichen, let's go, quickly! We can't let them take it all!"
"Then let's move."