Chapter 77 – Tomoe-chan’s advice

After the tea, Takechi Hito kissed Tomiko Hari, waved at Sakamo and Hangaku, and left. Sakamo and his two surprise guests went to the upper level, and while Hangaku and Tomiko went to their room to get their pyjamas to put on after the bath, he went to his room where Tomoe was seated in a chair, drying her hair with a towel.

She raised her head with a smile and asked, “Is this room safe from prying eyes and ears?”

“I believe so because my bodyguards are always watching, making sure those guys from the Intelligence Agency don’t enter.”

Shubuyaky Tomoe put her phone over the table and chose some music, which she then made play a little louder than normal. She approached Sakamo and whispered in his ear, “Can you help me dry my hair faster? Or you don’t have any you-know-what in you?”

As an answer, Sakamo threw a gush of Wind and Fire Magic at her, and the hot air around Tomoe dried her entire body, together with her hair. Sakamo dispersed the Fire and only the Wind was left behind, which slowly dispersed.

Tomoe opened her eyes and whispered, “How were things in Azurath? Have you got yourself into another crazy adventure? How is Okami? Is she still trying to seduce you?”

Sakamo leaned his head on his bedroom door to check where the other girls were, sat on a chair next to Tomoe, and approached her ear to whisper, “I think they are already in the bath. I heard the water running, and they were talking. Probably I should resume my latest adventure and hide some scary facts because I almost died a couple of times, and I don’t want to scare you, but I need your opinion.”

Sakamo quickly spoke about what happened to him during his last Quest, and when he was talking about the party at the Guild when he returned, he suddenly changed the subject and spoke normally instead of whispering, as he was doing, “I bet our friends in Nakanojo went crazy when they found out you were going to perform there. It’s because of the Moon Festival, right?”

Shubuyaky Tomoe frowned and answered, still a little puzzled, “Yeah, I try to free my schedule to go to Nakanojo for the Festival every year, but my agent always has some concert for me, or I need to shoot a commercial.”

A knock on the door interrupted them, and she nodded, realising why Sakamo changed the subject so abruptly.
He opened the door and a red-faced Hangaku Mae was standing there, with Tomiko Hari still drying her hair with a towel. He signalled them to enter and pulled two chairs for them. Hangaku sat on one after glancing at the bed that was already turned into two single beds, almost two metres away from each other.

She seemed to relax a bit because she spoke to Sakamo with a big smile on her face, “I came to tell you that the bathroom is free for you, and if you need help, I can scrub your back.”

“I took a shower before going to dinner, and even if I didn’t, it would probably be better if I took a bath alone because with me naked and you in there, I doubt I would leave the bathroom so soon, and tomorrow we need to get up early for School, remember?”

“Well, it doesn’t hurt to ask, right? Tomoe-chan, are you going to sleep like that?”

Shubuyaky Tomoe looked down at the drawing of a pink elephant on the yellow shirt of her pyjama, then put her feet up to look at the lower yellow half that ended a little below her knees and asked, “Why do you ask? This is not too old. I only used it like, three times, I think.”

Hangaku Mae put her hand over her mouth to prevent a laugh and said, “Pfff!… Nothing, it’s just that I would never think that a pop idol like you would use such a girlish pyjama. I thought you would always wear something cool when offstage, like ripped shorts and t-shirts.”

“No, those clothes are only for shows or interviews. At home, I always dress more casually. Sometimes, I like to feel comfortable and homely. Not that my pop idol clothes are not comfortable, but, you know… yeah…”

Hangaku Mae tapped Tomoe’s hand. “I was just messing with you, don’t worry. It’s nice to see this side of you. Your famous character is nice, but it’s cool to know that you can be just a regular girl, like us. So, it’s better if we leave then, considering you are ready to go to bed and Sakamo is yawning.”

She gave Sakamo a quick kiss and waved at Shubuyaky Tomoe, who was opening the sheet of one of the beds to get in, with one book in her hand.

When Hangaku was already in her bed and thinking about Sakamo’s wet hair floating in the wind, she whispered to Tomiko, “It seems I was worried for no reason. He has two beds in there, you noticed?”

“Yeah, I told you there was nothing to worry about. He likes you.”

Hangaku grinned with her eyes closed, and her smile faded when she touched the crystal on the necklace, wondering where he got it.

As for Sakamo, he was again whispering with Tomoe, and when he finished telling her everything that happened to him, she whispered, “You need to be extra careful, Ryu-kun because if those Dark Mages were from Earth, they could be anyone and live anywhere. I know it would be too much of a coincidence if you found one living in Japan, but you never know.”

“I suppose. What about you? Do you still want to continue living here and go to Azurath when you retire, like you told me last time?”

“Yeah, I like my life. Maybe I will get married and have a family here, and then I won’t go. But I hope you keep on visiting me!”

Sakamo touched her cheek while making a sad face and whispered, “I will, but when I stop ageing, I have to meet you in secret. I don’t know when that will happen, but I was told that I may live way over three hundred years because of all my contracts.”

Shubuyaky Tomoe almost shouted, but she covered her mouth at the last second. She whispered again, with a trembling voice, “That is sick! I will be long dead, and you will have so many years ahead! Okay, when I get old and wrinkled, I will become an eremite and I will close myself off inside my house. One day, someone will come searching for me, and I will be long gone, living with you in Azurath, surrounded by pretty Fairies and Mermaids.”

Sakamo kissed her forehead and smiled. He spoke in a low voice, “That’s a deal, Tomoe-chan. If you change your mind and want to go sooner, you just need to tell me.”

“What about Hangaku-chan? What are you going to do about her?”

“I will tell her, eventually. Not today, nor tomorrow, but one day.”

Tomoe made a slight smile and whispered again, “You gave her a piece of a Magical Orb, but I bet it was not a normal one, right?”

“Shinatobe messed with it a little so that it could absorb my Magic if I lost focus because she said that Hangaku-chan could be attracted by my overflowed Magic, instead of me.”

“Oh, that was a good idea! But I think she likes you a lot, not because of anything else that could influence her.”

Sakamo smiled and went to his bed. After pulling the sheet up, he turned off the lights.

“Good night, Tomoe-chan.”

“Good night, Ryu-kun.”
...

In the morning, Sakamo and Tomoe were already in the kitchen preparing breakfast when two sleepy girls joined them. Hangaku Mae sat on a chair, rubbing her eyes.

“I am so sleepy... Did you two have a good night’s rest? Because I couldn’t stop having weird dreams!”

Shubuyaky Tomoe winked at Sakamo and asked, “About what, me and Ryu-kun doing kinky things? Because that doesn’t say much about you, Hangaku-chan, it surely means you have a dirty mind. I slept like a baby. I bet I even snored!”

Sakamo nodded. “You snored, all right, way more than usual. I had to put my headphones over my ears to cover them. Here, food is ready, Hangaku-chan.”

While they were eating and talking about Hangaku’s album, the doorbell rang. Sakamo put a piece of bread in his mouth and, after looking through the spy eye, he opened it. The familiar serious face of a man in a dark blue suit stared at him, accompanied by a maid in a complete uniform.

The man made a slight bow with his head. “Good morning, Sakamo-san. “

Sakamo opened the door for them and asked the maid, “We were just finishing breakfast. Perhaps you can start with the upper level? Don’t touch anything on my desk, okay? I have some papers that I put in order yesterday.”

“Very well, Sakamo-san. If you excuse me.”

When Sakamo’s bodyguard was following the maid, Sakamo signalled to him and went to the dining table where his sketchbook was. The bodyguard held it with a puzzled look, and when Sakamo nodded with a smile, he opened it and his jaw almost dropped with the pictures.

He quickly recovered his serious look and asked, “You need frames for this, correct? I can take care of it while you are in School.”

Sakamo nodded, and he then disguisedly took a small bag with two bullets from his pocket, and he quickly explained in a low voice to the surprised man, “See if you can find something about this, like if the gun that shot them was used in a crime or something like that. I found them in the fountain yesterday morning, and I was wondering why these things were in there.”

The bodyguard glanced at the three girls that were happily chatting in the kitchen area and asked, in a low voice, “Someone shot against you? Why wasn’t I informed..”

“No, I told you, they were inside the fountain. I took them out without Hangaku-chan noticing because I didn’t want to ruin our date. It sure was a weird place for these things to be hidden in plain sight!”

The man quickly put the bag in his pocket and made a slight bow. “I will see what I can find out. Maybe by tomorrow afternoon, I will have something. Do you need anything else or can I go check on the maid?”

“Please do so. Before I forget, I have some sort of party to attend on Thursday. The Empress won’t let me escape this time, and next weekend I am going to Nakanojo for Tomoe-chan’s concert with all my classmates, but I will need a ride back on Sunday morning because I have a lot to take care of at the Institute to prepare for next week’s simulacrum.”

The man nodded with a frown that he quickly disguised. “I was hoping I could go to Nakanojo and stay there for the weekend with my family because of the Festival and Tomoe-chan’s concert. You know my daughter is a fan.”

“You don’t need to ride me back. I can come by train or with another person you choose. I don’t mind. If you want, your daughter can be with my classmates all weekend. I bet she will love to hang out with Tomoe-chan and Hangaku-chan.”

The man wrinkled a bit his upper lip and said, “I don’t know if that’s appropriate, Sakamo-san.”

“Nonsense. Your daughter will love it, and you won’t need to worry about her the entire weekend, so you can enjoy the company of your wife as much as you want. I just need to know if she will join them so that I can call the rental flats near the station and reserve a room for your daughter as well. Maybe they have rooms for more than one person, and she can sleep with another girl and split the expenses.”

“I can take care of the reservations if you want. I was going to do it anyway, for my family.”