A month of traveling around left Tohka and the others more than satisfied; this summer break felt completely fulfilling to them.
Shichen took them to all kinds of places: deserted islands, snowy landscapes, spots around the country and abroad. For spirits, the environment really wasn't an issue.
Only Murasame Reine and Yamauchi Sawa needed a little extra care, but even that was nothing difficult for Shichen.
In a month they didn't actually hit that many locations—aside from a few special places, it was mostly a handful of famous spots overseas. That was mostly for Tohka's sake.
She'd wanted to try foreign food, and in another country even some random little town was enough to keep her happily eating for days.
Her stomach never seemed to go flat.
Thankfully she was a spirit, so nobody needed to worry about her figure.
Kurumi and the others were actually just as much foodies; they tried everything, just not in the heroic quantities Tohka did. Girls liking good food was only natural, and in a neighboring gourmet-obsessed country, there was plenty to love.
Shichen himself had a very comfortable month. He didn't "eat" Tohka and the rest, but his relationship with Origami and the others deepened a lot.
Especially Origami—she nearly joined Kaguya and Yuzuru in "sharing" time with him.
Yuzuru didn't care either way, but Kaguya decisively refused.
It was one thing for her to be with Yuzuru; accepting someone else into that mix was still too embarrassing.
Just recalling the scenes of Shichen "bullying" her—like the time he pinned her down and stretched her out like a lazy cat—made her want to sink through the floor. That pose was already too much to let Yuzuru see; the only reason she could bear it was that Yuzuru had already seen plenty of her embarrassing moments in return.
At least there was a kind of equal exchange—if Kaguya had to watch Yuzuru in all kinds of compromising positions, Yuzuru also had to watch her. If they brought someone new in, it would still be the same—everyone seeing everyone else—and Kaguya didn't have a particular kink for watching other people's embarrassment, so she'd just as soon pass.
Aside from those three, Shichen certainly didn't forget Kotori—small, soft, and completely addictive.
Her shy little voice, whispering "Onii-chan" over and over, was something he could never get enough of.
He'd gone from initial guilt to complete lack of restraint; after the first time, it was easy to justify a second.
One thing he still hadn't quite figured out, though, was why Kotori's self-healing couldn't restore her completely.
Maybe it was because even his own Sacred Flame couldn't.
Kotori's spirit powers came from the Phoenix King he'd fused with. If Sacred Flame couldn't fully restore things, then she naturally couldn't either.
It wasn't really a problem—Shichen had no intention of making Kotori go through pain every single time. And even though she was a spirit, she was still afraid of hurting. With how round her little belly got, he could only imagine how much "bleeding" must hurt.
There was no universe in which he wanted her constantly getting hurt. He was just genuinely curious why "self-heal" didn't mean "back to perfect" in her case.
But not everything was for him to understand. If it didn't, it didn't.
By the time they got home, it was already September and the new term had started.
Right from the beginning, aside from the clueless Tohka, there wasn't a single student who wasn't looking forward to school—because that month they'd be holding a big event similar to a cultural festival: Tenou Festival.
Tenou Festival wasn't your standard culture fest. It was bigger, and it was a joint festival held by ten different high schools in Tengū City.
Tengū City itself was built by redeveloping areas that had been heavily damaged thirty years earlier in the Great Spacequake. In the early redevelopment phase, the threat of spacequakes hadn't yet vanished, so the city had a weird imbalance—wide land and solid infrastructure, but not many people. To liven things up, they created the joint school festival that later became Tenou Festival.
These days, Tenou Festival had grown into a three-day event so large that even city officials couldn't really call it off. Every year TV crews came to cover it, and the festival drew tourists from outside the city.
The economic impact was impossible to ignore now.
But for students, there was something even more important. Because of the theme—"all the schools join hands to make the culture festival more exciting"—as more schools joined, the festival took on another meaning.
More schools meant one thing: inter-school rivalries.
During Tenou Festival, each category—food stalls, displays, stage events, etc.—would have a "best school" decided by vote. The school with the highest score overall would be recognized as king of all Tengū City for the next year.
Adults might not care much, but for students that was a big deal.
Being one rung above other schools was a serious point of pride.
You could play your heart out and compete; of course everyone was hyped.
Shichen was also looking forward to Tenou Festival. Since it was a joint event for ten high schools, he figured he should finally be able to see her again in the present.
…
On the second day of the new term, preparations for Tenou Festival officially began, and all ten schools opened their doors to outside visitors.
None of Shichen's girls volunteered to join the festival committees—they all wanted to spend those three days running around with him instead.
Tohka had been very interested at first, but when Origami suddenly asked Shichen to stay with her during Tenou, Tohka immediately decided she wanted to be with him too.
Naturally, everyone else followed suit.
Shichen agreed to all of it and worked out a schedule: three days neatly sliced up so each person had some time with him—not too much, not too little.
While preparations were underway, classes still continued. Students could only work during breaks. Luckily class time was fairly easygoing; no one was handing out homework, and not a single student complained.
When Saturday came, anyone helping with prep still had to go in, and those actually running events or stalls had to keep training.
As the P.E. teacher, Shichen had absolutely nothing to do.
Bored, he looked over the list of ten high schools and noticed one all-girls school—Rindouji Girls' Academy.
Sure enough, that school had one student who stood out like a star, shining like an idol: Indouji's songstress, Yoimachi Tsukino—no, here, Izayoi Miku.
In the afternoon, after he and Origami had taken a bath together, the two of them headed toward Rindouji.
Origami's cheeks were still flushed; her steps were a little wobbly, so she had to cling to his arm as they walked.
"Do you want me to heal you?" Shichen asked, chuckling at how oddly she was moving.
"No need," Origami shook her head.
"Why not?"
"I want to remember what it feels like to be bullied by you," she said calmly.
"You…" Shichen was speechless.
"It's fine," Origami added quietly. "I've already… taken care of it, so there won't be any… mess."
Shichen stared at her for a second, almost wondering if he'd misheard.
"Is something wrong?" Origami blinked at him with wide, innocent eyes.
"…No. As long as you're happy." He looked away.
It's not like she could get pregnant, so it wasn't a big issue.
"Mm. I'm very happy," Origami said, hugging his arm tighter and leaning her cheek against it.
Her personality had returned to what it had been years ago, but maybe because she'd been suppressing herself for so long, she tended to go a bit far in some areas.
Shichen chose to respect that.
"Oh, right—what's your situation with AST now?" he remembered to ask.
Origami had been part of AST—Anti-Spirit Team—but now that she'd become a spirit and reunited with her parents, there wasn't really any reason to stay.
During summer he'd just wanted them to enjoy themselves and hadn't brought it up.
"I've already withdrawn," Origami replied.
"You quit? Is that okay?"
"It's fine. The captain knew I only joined to find my parents. Now that I have, there's no need to stay. He understands."
"I see. That's good, then."
"Mm. And now I only want to be with you every day. It'd be perfect if I could always be… filled up by you," she said in a soft voice.
"Stop. If you keep talking like that, I'm going to lose my self-control."
"Wouldn't that be ideal?"
"No. I actually have something to do today."
"What could you possibly need to do at a girls' school? Is there another one of your women there?" Origami asked dryly.
"Not exactly. I'm just going to see an old acquaintance. She's also a spirit."
"So she is one of your women."
"…"
Before long they reached Rindouji Girls' Academy, and Shichen was genuinely surprised by how grand the place was.
Outside was an iron fence. The school gate was built from red brick, with lush green hedges stretching out to either side.
Past the gate, there was a red-brick path leading straight ahead to a school building so magnificent it looked like a castle.
Even though it was Saturday, there were still students visible on campus—every last one of them a girl, and all of them very pretty.
Private Rindouji Girls' Academy—an elite school attended by daughters of distinguished families—was one of Tengū City's top institutions.