Tsuki Tsuki Vol 11 Chapter 3

Chapter 03: Sorry, everyone…

Escaping from the lonely room she was shut in, the little girl went on a trip. She thought that she would make a new family from now on. She believed so.

Therefore the girl cast aside her precious people she had made at some point, suddenly disappearing from their sight with just leaving a thanks.

And when the girl left, everyone cried loudly. But the girl knew. These tears wouldn’t continue on forever. Soon enough they would smile again. They would remember her smile too. That was enough. As long as she had memories with everyone, as long as everyone was smiling, she could keep on living with just that.

Convincing herself like that, the girl wanted everyone to remember her smiling face, so the girl kept enduring not to cry and went around all kind of places in the world, ignoring her own wish.

“Tell me why… Elni.”
The boy’s voice didn’t reach the girl. The pouring rain, the rain the girl had hated, washed away the voice of the boy while he stood just there crying his voice out…

A carefree walk home after school on a Friday. As usual, Machina was busy with work of the student council, so I went home alone after I dropped by the bookstore. Opening the front door, I raised my voice with “I’m home”, whereupon not Luna appeared straight from the living room, but Elni’s smiling face.

Elni peeked her face out. As soon as she noticed me, her cheeks flushed into a light pink and she came rushing over like a dog that found his master, clinging to me with a bright smile.

“The fact that I returned safely with a smile. That’s the best present.”

Regardless of me joking back to her joke about a present, Elni snuggled up to me like a spoiled cat. Sure, Elni was usually adorable, but was she ever this charming? While I got a bit agitated, Elni brightened her smile and continued.

“Of course, but speaking of, you already said that after the game tournament, didn’t you.”

“Anyway, Luna unusually didn’t come to greet me, what’s up with her?”

Special training? What was it? With my interest piqued, I headed for the living room at once, whereupon

Somehow, Luna was doing something weird in the very middle of the living room.

However, every time she jumped, her voluminous breasts bounced to the left and right, swayed greatly and moved up and down jelly-like. Luna’s behaviour was incredible adorable and exquisitely erotic at the same time.

“Just no, Bunny Girl. Hop~ Hop~” with that, I greeted her half teasingly, whereupon Luna quickly turned bright red and hastily shook both her hands, explaining.

“…Hop~ Hop~”

Luna turned even redder. It wasn’t good to tease her too much. But these shaking breasts. The kids wouldn’t call her “Miss Boobie” once she got along with them, would they?

…I had seen a similar one before. Was it after the quarrel with the Old Man Bram during Machina’s student council election? I remembered Elni saying something about “It’s a charm that protects against a devil’s influence” and was making lots of them.

—This time I wasn’t just indebted to you, but to Elni for various things as well. So I have to listen to a request of hers now. I’ll make it up to you after that.

Scraps of words that the Old Man told me after Machina’s election speech. Elni’s request to the Old Man. Until now, I had nearly forgotten about it. But I got the feeling that it was alright to forget about it. Elni had changed a bit recently.

After apologizing to Luna for teasing her, I got out into the garden and devoted myself to my martial arts exercises. During that, Elni brought my mother with her for some reason and both of them sat down on the lawn, closing their mouths and watching me in silence.

“Ehm, what are you two doing?”

“I think it’s you, who one can watch forever.”

“And you, Mom?”

“What the? Imitating Elni? It’s not the least bit cute.”

“But it really was a nice exercise. Both your moves and aura have changed. Until just recently, you tried to imitate your dad or grandfather, so you needlessly worked yourself up, which made your movements and aura stiff, yet now your shoulders are nicely relaxed. Like Elni had said… You might have grown stronger.”

“See, just like I told you. Not so long ago I was a bit worried too, but Shinobu got stronger while keeping his kindness. Right now he’s really cool!”

Widened her eyes a bit in surprise, my mother continued with a surprised “But”.

“Yeah, since Nazucat has a lot of talent.”

“Ehm, having talent isn’t really troubling, is it?”

I got the feeling that I somehow understood the meaning behind Elni’s words.

…Lonely. Sadness filled Elni’s words. My mother, as that made her recall something, clouded her expression a bit with a sigh.

“Tomoe-san, Nazucat will be fine though.”

“Nazucat knows of other’s weakness. She even knows the meaning of strength. She’s always been watching you two. Seeing Shinobu’s small back growing bigger before her eyes, she’s thinking that she wants to become like that too, isn’t she?”

“Nazucat has you by her side, Shinobu. So she’ll be fine. It may be that you’re envious of her too. It may be hard to see a talent in Nazucat that you don’t have. But you won’t come to hate her. You’ll always be her big brother. While that’s only natural, it’s also something quite amazing, in my opinion.”

“…It’s limitless if you look above or below yourself. What’s important is the middle. To look at yourself. You were able to do that, Shinobu. You learnt how to do that…”

—What’s important is the middle. To look at yourself.

Elni’s words right now overlapped with the feeling that Machina conveyed to me the other day… I could finally realize my own change. Most likely I had been able to move on my heart from my father and grandfather, who I had been so fixated on, and finally take a look at myself.

“You really have changed. I also had some training to a certain extent, so I could somewhat tell by seeing your exercises just now. Without me knowing… you have become even stronger than me. I knew this would happen, but I’m surprised how fast it happened…”

“Actually, ever since you returned to your grandfather’s doujo, I always thought that you would definitely become strong. That you would surpass me one day and become even stronger than your father.”

“Isn’t it obvious?”

“Because you’re my son I’m so proud of.” with these words, my mother peacefully reached out her hand and started to gentle pet my head. Proud, happy… and pleased about my growth.

“Somehow, when I looked at you, Tomoe-san, I was reminded of my mother again. Though my mother wasn’t as strong as you, was clumsy and didn’t keep her promises…”

“But she really resembled you, Tomoe-san, in the way she smiled gently, was easily moved to tears and loved her own child.”

“She was a really good mother. So I wanted to make her smile more, instead of only making her cry. I wanted to get my head petted like Shinobu…”

“Hey Elni… Your mother’s already gone?”

Elni showed an indifferent smile, but she trembled her voice, whereupon my mother nodded a “I see…” quietly, slowly reaching out her hand towards her.

Then it looked like my mother was going to tell her something important, but Elni hastily raised a “Ah!” voice, as to suddenly change the current atmosphere, then stood up with attitude for whatever reason.

A voice way too loud for a monologue. As it was either really important or due to my mother’s clouded expression, Elni acted brightly with “I’ll call her” and right away went from the lawn into the house. Her back at that time looked really small for some reason…

Right after dinner, Elni rushed through the open door of the living room with “A mail from Hijiri! They’ll come pick up us with the car now!” and her cell phone in one hand, probably returning to her room. Then she returned wearing a coat and holding a plastic model in her hand now.

Using her winner privilege from the game tournament, Elni made a promise to go watch the stars tonight with Hijiri and Kaorun. I was going to tag along too, but it hadn’t even been a minute since Hijiri’s mail arrived. They wouldn’t be here this far, would they?

It must have been the plastic model she had been holding earlier. Elni put up the model on top of the shoe locker at the front door with a smile and I casually looked at it.

“Yeah, so mean, right? I mean, it’s so cool. But it’s fine. From today on it’ll protect the Nanjou Household’s front door. Because I graduated from being a personal guard. I’m busy with my job at the nursery school. It’ll be the successor to Mad Dog.”

For Elni’s successor it got a rather unsociable face…

…We really might need flashlights later on.

Still, I knew we were going stargazing, but I wouldn’t have expected to take place on top of a mountain. By the way, I heard about the mountain climbing when I waited with Elni for Hijiri and Kaorun.

A bit worried, I pointed out “Isn’t a skirt too risky?”, but Kaorun said some nonsense of “I am a perfect maid, so it is alright” with a strangely convincing tone. With her driving, we sat in the rocking car for various minutes. After parking the car at the parking lot near the foot of the mountain, we right away headed for the mountain trail leading the top.

“Elni, it’s dark here, so it’s dangerous to hurry too much.”

“Ah, Elni! It’s really dangerous if you run! Please slow down a bit!”

“…To be together with you, Shinobu-sama, in a place like this makes me feel in danger.”

“No, no, I have all the right to say it. This is you we are talking about, Shinobu-sama. Surely you take advantage of the darkness to push me down forcefully while saying ‘Hah, Hah. These two won’t be back for a while. What do you say, Kaoru, let’s use this chance to make some bonding between Master and Maid. No one’s looking now’—”

I was a bit worried about Hijiri and Elni. For now I ignored Kaorun’s delusions, whereupon

After showing a somewhat sulking expression, she grabbed the hem of her skirt with one hand, fleetingly illuminating her beautiful legs with the flashlight in her hand.

In that moment, Kaorun started to get sulky right away.

“Say what? I don’t really have a maid fetish, you know? More importantly, shouldn’t we hurry after Elni and Hijiri? I’m worried about them.”

Huh? Was she pouting? Or was it her usual joke?

…What was up with this sexy pose?

“…H- Hey, stop it, Kaorun. What’re you doing?”

Indifferent to my agitation, Kaorun smiled at me bewitching and pushed out her bottom even more to show it off to me.

“If you are willing to apologize for your cold attitude, Shinobu-sama…”

“this older girl here will make you feel real good with her bottom.”

“Please hurry up and apologize. Then I will let you fondle my bottom. You are allowed do whatever you want with my bottom, you know?”

“Shinobu-sama, I guess that I should take off my underwear too, right? Then you will understand my charm better, right? Would you be kind enough to… please take off my panties?”

It was possible that it was a prank. It was Kaorun after all. I got the feeling she would tell me “Please do not take my joke seriously. I will report you.” with a straight face if I screwed up.

…I felt someone’s presence. As Kaorun noticed it too, she stiffened her expression in no time and together with her, I faced the direction the sound came from, whereupon my worry came true.

“Ehm, since when have you two been there…?”

“No, no! You have the wrong idea, Hijiri-chan! I was just playing a joking prank! Shinobu-sama was so cold, so I just thought that I would make him understand the charm of an older girl!”

However, to think such an happening would occur before we even got to stargaze…

On top of the mountain. There spread a manmade plaza void of any trees, as they had been cut down. And above us spread the fascinating starry sky. This was amazing…

It surely was the same for the others. Hijiri looked up to the stars with sparkling eyes and Kaorun leaked a spellbound breath in an usual agitation. Still fascinated by the starry sky as well, I sat down on the spot for now.

“Uhm, Elni, why are you doing something so enviabl— *cough* why are you sitting down there?”

“Yes, indeed. Shinobu-sama’s lap is Elni-san’s special seat, Hijiri-chan.”

While Hijiri widened her eyes a bit, Kaorun clung onto my arm so that her beautiful breasts were rubbing against it as soon as she sat down on my left. And following Kaorun’s lead, Hijiri too pressed her comfortable breasts onto my right arm with a soft touch, albeit reserved. Moreover, I felt the sweet elasticity of Elni’s bottom on my lap.

“…Seeing such a pretty and broad starry sky in front of my eyes seems to make my worries appear so trivial.”

“Yes, forgive me for always worrying you with my worrisome body— is what I would like to say, but to my regret, that is not the case.”

“I believe that I already told you about it a while ago, but soon a new maid will come to our household. Most likely that person will live with us starting next year. But actually… I am a bit worried.”

The head of the Gogyou Household, Sougo-san had decided to hire a new maid, so that Kaorun could concentrate on studying, since she was allowed to attend university together with Hijiri. However, Kaorun somewhat clouded her expression, as something was worrying her, and I called out to her as soft as possible.

I hope that I could cheer up Kaorun even a bit. With that in mind, I told her my feelings, whereupon

“Hey, you both look really happy, but could it be, it’s your first time here?”

“Sougo never told you about it?”

Not replying to Hijiri’s question, Elni smiled faintly with “…He’s so virtuous” and continued.

“Kaoru-san and me? Are you sure? It’s your treasure, right?”

Gently narrowing her eyes yearning, Elni looked up the stars once again.

“My father said such a thing to you?”

“When we first met, you knew about exorcist and that the Gogyou Family uses flames to exorcise. Did my father tell you all that?”

Once again facing Hijiri and Kaorun, Elni showed a bright smile.

Conveying her heartfelt feelings, Elni softly rested her small hand on Hijiri’s shoulder.

“…My father, a failure?”

While smiling, Elni stared at Hijiri.

“Fufu, I don’t want Shinobu-kun to get angry, so I’ll do as you say, Elni. I’ll properly rely on others. Thanks for worrying about me, Elni. But why are you telling me that all of a sudden?”

Pretty much like overflowing with emotions, Elni brightened her smile, then slowly shifted her gaze to Kaorun now and changed her tone into a very kind one.

“I am grateful already for the words alone, but the fact that I could change is thanks to you as well, Elni-san.”

“Do you remember that time, Elni-san?”

“I ran away from my exorcist training, got sheltered at the vacation home of Shinobu-sama’s grandfather and we watched the fireworks of the festival. After that I spoke about my mother and you recommended me to go see my mother.”

Elni urged her to go see her own mother.

“I still remember all the words you have told me even now, Elni-san.”

—Humans are bound to die one day. You don’t know if that will happen tomorrow or in a year. This might sound extreme, but you might not ever see her again if you don’t meet her tomorrow. If you have something to ask of her, it’s better that you hear the truth from her mouth.

Dearly retelling the sentiment she had received, Kaorun smiled like a blooming flower.

Slowly stopping her words, Kaorun smiled at Elni.

“…If you’re happy, Kaorun, that’s all I need. Because you’re my precious friend too. Even while you’re joking around, you’re supporting the others from the back. You’re working hard so that everyone has fun. I’m the one thanking you, Kaorun.”

Different from her usual bright smile, her expression with an intimate faint smile and her eyes narrowed, looked somewhat mature.

“I hope that one day you can fawn on your own mother, Kaorun. I’m sure she’ll be happy… if you properly call her ‘Mother’.”

“I’m glad I came here today with you all. I’m really glad I could present this to Hijiri and Kaorun. I love all three of you.”

“This is kinda nice. I’m really happy.”

Animating her voice, she danced relaxed and really brilliant…

Both of them had their mouths closed, showed a soft smile and watched over Elni. What I felt in my chest at this time was a really common, cheap happiness. However, I considered it something very precious, so

Like making a promise, I declared so to Elni.
But as my voice didn’t reach her or she pretended not to hear it, Elni didn’t gave a reply. Instead, she clung to me again after her charming dance, not letting go that easily this time…

The winner privilege from the game tournament. It was the day after Elni used it without hesitation to go stargazing with Hijiri and Kaorun. Since it was a holiday, Elni took the train to the city two stations away early in the morning with Luna, Machina, Nazuna and me in tow.

…Spending the day together without doing anything special, it was just a common holiday.

With Luna gone, we others entered together, whereupon all kind of cats were roaming free inside the café. On the right was the space for tables. On the left were tools to play with the cats. It mostly was a place, where people came to play with cats.

“Meow, meow!”

Nazuna dashed away in a happy mood. Machina got hooked on by her for a moment, but then played the older sister along with a cough. But Nazuna couldn’t hold back her excitement and got along with two nearby cats right away, whereas Machina too hurried over to the cats with a smile. However,

Strangely enough, the moment Machina came closer, most of the cats quickly left the spot.

Upon that, the cats too meowed like replying to Elni, making it seem like a conversation. No, not seem like, they actually might have a proper conversation.

When I remembered about that time, Machina dropped her shoulders and came back in downhearted state.

“W- Well, what can I say…”

“Machina, I think this one will play with you.”

“It’ll be fine. She seems interested in you.”

“Shinobu, can we take her home?

Well, I could relate to her, but I advised Machina lightly and sat down at the nearby table.

…I should let her show me the pictures later on.

…This reminded me of our own cat Kagari. But she was the rather jealous type, so she might get angry about me touching another cat like this.

“…*kiss*… Mm…”

“M- Machina, what’re you doing in public?”

For that, her cheeks were rather red and she faced sideways somewhat sulking.

“Fufu, Machina got a bit jealous of the cat.”

“…Yeah, I know. It’s okay, Machina. I understand everything.”

Exposed after all, huh. Unable to hold back any longer, I burst out in a laughter, whereupon Machina turned bright red while repeating “I’m not jealous or anything” just in case. On a spontaneous look during that, all cats within the shop were gathering at Elni’s feet for some reason.

“Mhm~ Sorry, but I’m busy with my pictures right now. If you want to play, go to Shinobu or the other— wait, Uwah. What’s up so suddenly? Hey, stop it.”

A truly heart-warming scene. At some point, the other customers were chasing her with their eyes too and Nazuna, who had only eyes for the cats so far, shifted her gaze to Elni, animating her voice with a smile for whatever she was thinking.

“…I hope I won’t get hated.”

“Th- That’s not fine at all! So when that cat comes home, she’ll get angry every time I or my sister cling to Shinobu or kiss him, right?”

“O- Oh, right. Elni-chan, you can talk with cats too, right? So could you mediate between Machina and Kagari-chan once she gets home?”

Nodding somewhat enunciating, Elni started to take pictures again midway in her sentence to dodge the question. On the other hand, I felt doubtful, but looked at Elni’s digital camera to change the topic.

“Fufu, no problem, Shinobu. I properly received permission from the Miss at the reception earlier.”

A bit surprised, I looked at Elni’s digital camera again.

“…Guess so. Kaorun said so as well, memories fade easily. But if you keep them in the form of pictures, you can see everyone’s smile any time. So with these pictures, I can already…”

…At that time, something suddenly felt amiss. But no one noticed it’s true character, nor paid any attention to it and after enjoying the cat café to the fullest, we left the café together.

During that, only Elni was being reluctant about returning home and tried to play together with everyone as much as the time allowed it, as if today was the last time to do so.

While seeing her like that, that small amiss feeling I had earlier at the cat café gradually swelled up and after I got out of the bath, I headed to the living room to check upon the others.

Elni started to affectionately pet each their heads, which pretty much made her appear like their older sister.

“Listen to me like that, you two. I have something important to tell you.”

“I’m sure you’ll be able to live in the human world from now on, Machina. So you can be at ease. Be more honest to yourself. Act more spoiled. Everyone should allow it. But make sure to return the favour in some way, when you act spoiled, okay? Just remember that.”

As she was already half-asleep, Machina replied quietly with her eyes still closed, whereupon Elni smiled softly and then shifted her gaze towards Nazuna.

“This is just a guess, but do you want to become like Shinobu, Nazucat?”

“Then watch him even closer than you have until now, Nazucat. Your horizon should broaden when you see the weakness, kindness and strength of someone without talent.”

“You don’t have to get it for now. But please don’t forget it. You have a talent that Shinobu lacks. Even so, the world of a genius is rather narrow and frail in a way. I’m sure you’ll be fine, but if you want to become truly strong, you can’t avert your eyes from Shinobu, okay?”

“…I have to properly tell it to Luna too…”

Before I noticed it, I had been befuddled by the singing voice and I stood stock still partly absent-minded, whereupon the lullaby ended in time and Elni came into my direction, raising a hysteric “Uwah!” voice as soon as she saw my face in front of the door.

“Ah, no, well… Sorry.”

Being told that, I followed Elni’s gaze, where Machina and Nazuna were sleeping soundly together on the sofa. Sure, we couldn’t leave them like that and the punishment Elni spoke of surely was meant as a joke. But the lullaby was affecting me even now and I was still kind of absent-minded while I carried Machina and Nazuna one after another to their beds together with Elni.

In regards, I watched her leaving, then returned to my own room and lay down on the bed.

Every time I thought so, my unrest grew larger. But it wasn’t certain. It was possible that I got the wrong idea. It should be alright as it was… I took my time to calm my feelings, then I looked at the clock on the wall of my room and slowly straightened up my upper body on the bed.

My mother was holding a photo album against her chest and I asked slightly curious.

“No. These are the pictures Elni took. She asked me to develop them.”

Still, even if she was mimicking Kaorun, I didn’t know that Elni took enough pictures to fill a whole album. While I gave a short agreeable response, my mother clouded her expression a bit for some reason and turned on her heels, heading to the living room, as she wanted to hand the album to Elni. I followed after my mother, whereupon now Elni was sleeping rolled up on the sofa.

“Hey Elni, if you sleep here, you’ll catch a—”

We had thought Elni was simply sleeping. But that wasn’t it. She was having a terrible nightmare and lightly trembled her small body.

Along with bitterish words, tears started to run out of her closed eyes and unfamiliar names spilled out of her mouth one after another. And for every time, Elni repeated an apology.

From bewilderment and confusion, both my mother and I held our breath, unable to do anything, and Elni helplessly puttered around in the air with her own hand while making noises during her nightmare. My mother quietly grabbed that hand, whereupon Elni closed her mouth relieved from the warmth on her palm.

Tightly squeezing back my mother’s hand, she faintly opened her eyelids.

With her sadly rocking eyes, she was surely looking at something else than here. Her crimson eyes finishing the sad slumber,

Elni’s eyes waking up from the dream, quickly lost their colour.

Together with a voice void of emotions, it seemed that her heart creaked noisy. No more words followed. Not even a crying voice came out of her opened mouth, just tears spilled endless out of her eyes… Elni cried silently. But probably because she was in front of us.

…Elni has a light sleep. She has trouble falling asleep. She’s often crying in her sleep.

But because she had smiled brightly like always, because she had behaved so in front of everyone, I might have forgotten about it until now. And while I had forgotten it, Elni had been crying like this all the time?

“…Cry it out, Elni.”

“You don’t have to smile all the time. You don’t have to hold yourself back. You can cry in front of us. We’ll always be with you, so… don’t cry by yourself anymore.”

“Ah, already this late!”

“Luna’s coming back soon. Today I’ll go greet her in front of the house!”

…Surely it wasn’t like my feelings didn’t reach her. I believed that they were properly conveyed. But Elni properly refused to accept them?

“I knew she was strange lately, but in the end, Elni… is different from the others.”

“It seems this album is Elni’s new treasure. When she asked me to print out the pictures, she was talking about it happily. But I don’t really get it.”

Upon that, starting from the time of the culture festival, the album was full with pictures like from summer vacation, Luna’s birthday, the previous game tournament and today’s cat café.

But that wasn’t enough. I couldn’t really find the smile I wanted to see. My speed of turning the pages gradually became faster. Impatience grew in my heart and I kept searching by straining my eyes. But the result was the same. I just couldn’t find it.

Succeeding on my shaking words, my mother continued really peaceful.

A whole album of smiles from everyone. Elni’s new treasure. Amidst that, only Elni’s smile, the supposedly important thing was sadly missing.

Actually I started to get it. That amongst everyone, amongst our family, only Elni wasn’t part of it. But I was really scared… about knowing the meaning behind my mother’s words.

When I suddenly woke up, my body was kind of sluggish.

…Could I do something until Christmas? Elni’s crying face wouldn’t leave my head. The album with just Elni missing. With the resurfaced unrest in my chest, I left my room and casually peeked into the living room, where Nazuna was despite it still being early.

“Morning, Brother! You’re up really early today!”

I gave a vague response, whereupon Nazuna opened her mouth a bit worried.

“…Yeah, right. Then let’s train for a bit.”

The serene chirping of the birds. When I threw my glance over there wondering, the wild birds flew away with flapping wings, which was a somewhat wondrous scene.

…It was pretty much like a scene from a painting.

With this mysterious scene in front of me, I forgot my words and held my breath, whereas Nazuna boasting said to me with a small voice, as she noticed my behaviour.

“Well, she apparently is a Goddess…”

“The teacher taught us in class the other day that people with silver hair and red eyes like Elni-chan are called Albino. And that it’s said that Albinos were worshipped as a target of faith by the locals since ancient times.”

“According to my teacher, I think it was in the southeast of Africa? There they believe that the body of an Albino host a special power. Also, Noah from Noah’s arc was also an Albino.”

“But it’s rare for you to seriously listen to class.”

“…You’re going to have troubles with the test again.”

“A- Anyway, Brother, when I heard about the Albinos, I thought, is Elni-chan really a Goddess? That would be really amazing if so. A Goddess in our family, you know?”

“Reminds me, you’re calling Luna and Machina with ‘Oneechan’, but you won’t do that for Elni?”

Knitting her eyebrows a bit, Nazuna dropped her voice a little.

“Elni might be different than the others after all…”

“Now then, we’re going to spar, right? Then let’s get started already.”

In that moment, the wild birds in the garden all at once got away from Elni in surprise as soon as they noticed us, flying away in an escape along with loud flattering of their wings. Amidst that, Elni waved her hands and said good-bye to the birds, then she showed us a smile.

“You sound like a housewife.” While replying so with a casual tone, I faced Elni again. As expected it was the usual Elni like always. And we knew nothing of her. Machina had said something similar the other day.
We really didn’t know what kind of childhood or what kind of lifestyle she had so far. Just now Nazuna told me about the Albinos being targets of faith, but how was that related to calling yourself a Goddess? I wanted to know more about her, even if it was

Chapter end