Tsuki Tsuki Vol 6 Prologue

Prologue

“Hey, what do you mean by devil?”

I didn’t know how to answer her question and kept my mouth shut in confusion.

—A park on an early morning during summer vacation that I came to yawning to tag along with Nazuna and Elni’s radio exercise. There we met Gogyou Hijiri by chance and I had asked her casually.

Upon that question, Hijiri had answered that she would participate since she had a job request there.

Hijiri trusted me, so she had told me about her job. But usually, Hijiri kept her job a secret. So when she realized that Minami overheard her talk about her job, she was shaken without doubt. Hijiri was looking at Minami with a stiff expression.

“What’s this request for an inquiry about?”

Before I could say anything to cover it up,

Elni, whenever she had come back, raised her voice with a smile.

Most likely Elni had heard our conversation. Making a follow up, she started to talk about a fictional game with gestures, which sadly didn’t seem to be effective. At the beginning Minami was surprised at the sudden appearance of Elni, but now she was in a state of half-believing, half-doubting.

“Y- Yeah, that’s right.”

“Eh? Th- The title? It’s, ehm…’Near Mad Dog Armageddon’?”

“I never heard of a game with such a title….?”

Elni laughed and said quibbling. But there was no way she could hush it up with that and Minami gave Elni a doubtful look.

“Geez, El-chan, don’t kid around so much. The title of the game is…”

—Nazuna was aware of Hijiri’s job.

At that time Nazuna hadn’t had minded that Luna and Machina were devils, nor had she been scared of Hijiri. However, not everyone was the same. There might be people, who are scared of devils or exorcists. Nazuna probably understood that.

Taking Elni’s spot, Nazuna continued to talk about the game with a somewhat awkward smile, when Minami finally seemed to consent,

as she made a shy smile and faced Hijiri.

“M- My big sister loves games, so we often play it together.”

Hijiri’s so called “Big Sister” must refer to the maid of the Gogyou Household, Kaoru aka Kaorun.

“You don’t really give off the image of a gamer, Nanjou-kun, but do you play often?”

Resting my head on Nazuna’s head, I matched my story to theirs, when Minami frowned lightly for some reason.

“What, you jealous?”

When I asked her teasingly, Minami suddenly brought her face closer and answered.

For now, I averted my eyes from Minami by dropping my gaze, but upon that, I now had her bulging huge breasts in my vision.

“Minami, if you want to get closer to Hijiri, I think you should tell that to herself and not me.”

Fidgeting with her index fingers against each other, Minami tried to say something with a quiet voice, but

suddenly there was a loud voice and erased her words completely.

For a moment, Minami showed a complicated expression upon seeing that, but soon enough she relaxed the corners of her mouth and waved her hand with a “I’m coming!”.

“Yeah, see you later. Though I’m going home now.”

“Geez, don’t be so mean. It’s a chance meeting, so let’s talk for a bit.”

“I, I don’t want to hear these words from your mouth, Nanjou-kun!”

It was a reaction like when your lover brought up a break-up. Minami went away just like that in an escape, but she suddenly stopped and turned around.

“Yeah. Just like last year, I’m busy spending my times with alcohol, cigarettes, fights and women.”

Surprisingly enough, Minami showed a positive reaction with a spellbound expression. But in contrast to that Minami, Hijiri and Nazuna stared at me incredible lonely. I couldn’t endure their looks, so I hastily corrected my statement.

“Eh, really!?”

“Nanjou-kun, Nanjou-kun, I’m going too, so let’s play together there.”

I nonchalant replied the sudden hyper Minami.

“Nanjou-kun, you know, I bought a daring swimsuit this year. Fufu, you’ll certainly feel like it.”

…Minami had a good style, so when she took a pose like that, it was quite something.

“We’ll talk later too, Nazuna-chan.”

Suddenly being called upon, Nazuna nodded a bit bewildered. Minami grinned and went over to her little brother…but it was weird. Nazuan shouldn’t have named herself yet.

“Hey, Nazuna. You knew Minami?”

Tilting her head, Nazuan grumbled mysterious.

“Nazucat, that’s love. Your ever fast beating heart is proof enough.”

Still tilting her head, Nazuna crossed her arms and pondered. But, she was probably just surprised by having her name called out by someone she didn’t know.

I was doubtful, but it was nothing to think too deeply about.

“C’mon, the radio exercise is starting. You guys hurry up too.”

“…Sorry, Nazuna. I have to talk with Hijiri.”

When Nazuna showed a smile, now Elni talked to me.

“No, what are you going to do at a radio exercise? Do it properly.”

“Elni and Nazuna-chan saved me…”

“D- Don’t bow, Shinobu-kun! It was me, who was negligent. You’re not at fault at all. Please raise your head.”

I raised my head with a wry smile and opened my mouth with a “Then”

“Yeah, thanks. It’s reassuring when you say that.”

…I was really negligent. I made a sigh in my heart and strangely reprimanded myself.

I still remembered vividly that Hijiri was close to tears, when she told me about that.

…I almost was about to have Hijiri suffer the same feelings as back then.

That it actually might work out with Minami.

Suddenly remembering one year ago, I casually faced Minami.

Having that impression, I slowly averted my eyes from Minami. There I felt a gaze on me and noticed that Hijiri was sneaking peeks at me.

“N- Nothing!”

“Uhm, Shinobu-kun, what do you, well, think of Minami-san?”

The moment I answered, Hijiri pinched my cheek. Well, while I called it pinched, it was more of a lightly plucking and didn’t hurt at all…

“No, don’t get the wrong idea. I wasn’t really speaking bad of her. It was my way of a compliment.”

“Yeah, for the most part. I do think that she’s cute.”

For some reason, Hijiri made a shocked face and dropped her shoulders.

Surely, you would call Hijiri “beautiful” rather than “cute”. She also held the stronger image of being “cool” or “dignified”. You could also add that her usual dignified expression never ceased to smite the female students.

But the more I got to know Hijiri, I noticed another charm to her.

“….But, you called Minami cute.”

I had no reason to deny it. I replied with a nod, when Hijiri blushed and asked.

“…You’re an unexpected sullen lecher?”

She didn’t really put any strength into it. So just like with the cheek pinching earlier, I felt close to no pain. But, apparently Hijiri’s mood was damaged.

Lightly puffing her cheeks, Hijiri pouting faced sideways.

Suppressing my smile, I rested my hand on Hijiri’s head.

Along with my words, I patted her head lightly, when Hijiri turned bright red up to her ears and looked down.

“Huh, what’s up? Do you feel sick?”

“I don’t really get it, but that’s what makes a man great, right?”

O- Ohh? I didn’t expect her to agree. When she gave a reaction like that, even I would get bashful. I should quickly change the topic. I pointed at Elni doing her radio exercise.

“You’re right…”

Apparently Elni didn’t really seem to know the radio exercise movements. Sometimes she moved completely wrong and when she noticed it, she hastily mimicked the movement of the others.

You didn’t get tired of watching her….

Soon enough we reached a parting point, where Minami suddenly reached out her hand for Nazuna.

Lovingly petting Nazuna’s head and smiling softly, Minami said isolated.

“…I’m glad you’re all energetic again, Nazuna-chan.”

It was mumbled so quietly that it got drown out by the chirping of cicadas.

“Mh? What, Minami-san?”

Minami shook her head with a smile. But her eyes narrowed and she mumbled “Minami-san, huh…” somewhat sadly. Then she slowly shifted her gaze to me.

That was said in an unusual childish tone. Along with her words, Minami waved her hand a bit and holding hands with her little brother, she went away.
For some reason, I couldn’t take my eyes off her back….

Chapter end