Free Web NovelChapter 223: Interlude – Fireworks (2)
Brilliant bursts of color lit up the night sky—the perfect ending to a festival that left everyone glowing with happiness. Yet, on the rooftop of the party house, an atmosphere utterly unfitting for a warm, celebratory night hung cold and heavy.
Iris broke the silence. “This is what I think.”
With a smile full of mercy and kindness, befitting her title as a Saintess, she continued, “Just as the Seven Gods were created over seven nights, everything in the world must follow a proper order.”
“And what exactly are you trying to say?”
“I mean that I will handle the kiss on behalf of all of you. The rest of you can quietly sit back and watch.”
Her gentle voice did nothing to soften her bold and completely monopolizing declaration. Laneige’s, Yurina’s, and even Professor Baldwin’s eyes turned icy.
Yurina said, “Heh. If we’re going by order, then the first of the Seven Gods to be created was the Sun, so I should do it.”
“Yurina, you don’t even have the Soul Stigmata of the Sun,” Iris replied.
“I can wear the pendant.”
“You’re planning to kiss Dale while being in your male form?”
“Dale will understand.”
What? Is my opinion not important? I thought.
“He very much does not look like he would.”
Yurina shook her head hard, making it clear she absolutely refused to yield. “Anyway! Letting Iris be the only one who kisses him is totally unfair!”
Laneige nervously bit her nails, staring at the two with lifeless, hollow eyes, mumbling curses under her breath. “R-right. Iris and Yurina, both of you are being unfair.”
In a broken tone so soft that others couldn’t properly hear her, she continued, “Iris and Yurina already did X stuff with Dale, and now they still want to kiss him too. Unfair, unfair, unfair, unfair. They’re tall and pretty and have their own friends, but I’m nothing without Dale. I want to do things with Dale too. I could do better. Why is it only me, only me, only me, only me?”
Professor Baldwin sat with her arms crossed and legs comfortably crossed as well, speaking coolly from her chair. “I’m not entirely sure what Laneige just said, but she did raise at least one valid point. Iris and Yurina, you have already formed a relationship with Dale. For you to covet the kiss as well, wouldn’t that be excessive?”
“T-that has nothing to do with this!”
“She’s right! This is a once-a-year chance!”
The argument was becoming sharper and sharper, and the gazes of the four women clashed in midair.
I was flabbergasted. They were all getting along just fine a moment ago. What? What the hell is happening all of a sudden? You all said we were comrades! That we’d all live together someday!
However, I swallowed the words rising to my throat and stood there trapped between them, unable to say anything. Moreover, there was an even bigger problem. There weren’t even supposed to be any heart-shaped fireworks in the first place. The rumor about heart-shaped fireworks was something Seto had spread just to lure couples to the central plaza, a complete lie.
Professor Baldwin said to the others, “Come to think of it, there’s an old proverb in the Republic: Elders first, juniors after.”
“What does that mean?”
“It means children shouldn’t covet what belongs to adults.”
Excuse me, Professor, you also know the heart-shaped fireworks don’t actually exist. Why are you acting so invested now? I said internally.
Professor Baldwin smirked at me. “Wouldn’t you agree, Dale?”
Seeing that smirk, I suddenly remembered the words she had muttered at the hot spring. “I’ll remember this humiliation forever!”
No way! Is she trying to get revenge for that?
She continued, “Hmm. Why aren’t you answering? Go on.”
That expression definitely meant she was enjoying this.
Iris looked at the others and declared, “Hmph! Anyway, I’m not backing down on this!”
“M-me neither! I-I understand Professor Baldwin and Sister Laneige’s feelings, but... but I don’t want to miss a chance like this either!”
Someone seeing this would wonder why a person would fight so hard over something so trivial when we had all already acknowledged being in a relationship together. But sometimes, precisely because something seemed trivial, it would turn into something one absolutely couldn’t yield.
That was especially the case for girls who had never once experienced any of those sweet, romantic event cliches, like “If you kiss under the heart-shaped fireworks, you’ll be together forever.”
“I-it looks like... W-we’ll have to split it up somehow.”
Just as this fierce tug-of-war was on the verge of leading to a complete corporate-style division of assets, I voiced my opinion. “Everyone, calm down.”
I could no longer just watch and let this escalate, so I exhaled quietly and stepped in. “All you need is a kiss while the heart-shaped fireworks are in the air, right?”
Drawing a slow breath, I summoned the power of the Primordial Flame. However, my mana hadn’t yet fully recovered from the fight with the Archbishop of Madness. The moment I tried to invoke the Primordial Flame, exhaustion crashed over me, as if wringing out the very last drops of water from a bone-dry cloth.
Still, I clenched my teeth and pulled the power forth. Embers of Ashen Flames surged upward, illuminating the darkness as they shot into the sky. Then, with a boom, a massive bloom of blazing cinders exploded overhead, forming the shape of a brilliant, burning heart. It was so large that the fireworks exploding far away at the central plaza looked pitiful in comparison.
Couples below gasped in awe as they stared at the glowing heart suspended in the sky.
“This is...”
“Wow!”
While they were all distracted by it, I quickly approached Professor Baldwin. “Please contact Professor Bianca. Tell her we secretly prepared a heart-shaped firework as a surprise event.”
Since an unplanned firework had just gone off, someone could mistake it for an outside attack.
Professor Baldwin let out a small, regretful laugh. “Hmph, so this is how you slip out of the situation.” fɾēewebnσveℓ.com
She shrugged and activated her Hero Watch to send the message.
I turned toward the couples below, still gazing up in awe at the firework made of Ashen Flames. “Well then...”
Since it wasn’t a real firework but one crafted from Ashen Flames, there was no risk of it bursting and disappearing right away.
I turned around. “Iris.”
“Yes? Mmph—”
Starting with Iris, one by one, I kissed them, giving each of them the event they wanted. I slowly brushed my lips against each of theirs in turn. Only after I had kissed all four of my lovers beneath the magnificent Primordial Flame heart burning across the sky did the embers in the night sky finally fade away.
Relieved that the crisis had passed, I turned to my lovers. “Phew! That should do it, right?”
Yes, everyone got the kiss they wanted. Everyone should be satisfied now.
However, all four of them stared at me with heavy, heated breaths, like starving beasts eyeing prey.
“Dale!”
“It’s not enough.”
“Y-yeah. Definitely not enough. N-not even close!”
I was baffled. “Huh?”
I had overlooked a few things. First, even if there was no time limit, kissing all four meant each person didn’t get very much time. Second, it was a known truth that eating a little only made a starving person even hungrier. Third, even though they looked fine outwardly, everyone had already been drinking quite a bit before the fireworks even started. Last, when several people gathered together, they would boldly do things they never dared attempt on their own, brushing it off with, “Everyone else is doing it, so it’s fine.”
They all looked at them with threatening gazes.
“Please, just a little more.”
“Dale. C-come here.”
“F-first. I-in case he tries to run, l-let’s tie his legs.”
“I’ll handle the tying.”
I looked at them and said, “W-wait! Everyone, calm— Hey?” fɾeewebnoveℓ.co๓
Before I could finish, Professor Baldwin’s spiderweb shot out and wrapped around me. Under normal circumstances, breaking free wouldn’t have been difficult. But I was low on mana as I had just used the Primordial Flame again despite being already drained of mana.
I was completely powerless. There was absolutely no escape from the four women approaching me like predators closing in on trapped prey.
“Hehehe. Daaale.”
“I-I’m going first this time!”
“Haa! Haa! Dale...”
“Hm. Well, well. This is getting interesting.”
Flustered, I looked at them. “Everyone, please— Mmpf! Mmmph!”
And like that, the curtain fell on the Seven Stars Cultural Festival.
***
The four women looked down at Dale.
“He fell asleep so fast.”
“Now that you mention it, Dale did look worn out earlier. Did something happen?”
“Hm...”
Elisha wore an awkward expression as she looked at Dale sleeping below. An expression flickered across her face that seemed to ask, “Did we go too far?”
“Professor Baldwin, do you know something about this?”
“Well, just hear it from Dale directly later,” Elisha replied.
It was better for Dale himself to explain the matter regarding the Archbishop of Madness.
Yurina turned to her. “By the way, Professor Baldwin.”
“Hmm? What is it, Yurina?”
“Um, w-would it be better if... if I called you, um, Big Sister?”
Elisha was completely surprised by that question. Big Sister, huh.
A short laugh escaped her, and she answered, “For as long as you’re attending this academy, that won’t be possible.”
“Ah! R-right, that makes sense.”
Elisha shrugged, a soft, ticklish warmth rising in her chest. “Heh. But if we end up living together in the future, you may call me that.”
Even though they all loved the same man, Elisha had never really thought of Iris, Yurina, or Laneige as her younger sisters. She had lost her family at a young age and lived alone ever since. The feeling that came with the word “sister” was strangely comforting.
Big Sister, is it? It’s not a bad feeling, she thought.
“Now that I think about it, none of us have normal families, do we?” Iris said.
“You’re right.”
Iris was an orphan, Yurina was practically estranged from her mother, and Laneige had almost died at the hands of her rampaging mother.
Iris gently stroked Dale’s sleeping head, smiling softly. “For people who had no connection to each other, the fact we’re all here like this is thanks to Dale.”
“Do you think Dale even realizes how much he’s saved all of us?”
“I doubt he’s ever thought about it.”
“Agreed.”
The four women stared down at the sleeping man in quiet contemplation.
Laneige carefully broke the silence. “Um, s-so, later on, we’ll all live together, right?”
“Well, isn’t that likely? Just like Professor Baldwin mentioned.”
“T-then, um, when that happens... we’ll, uh, w-will we all do, um, everything t-together? Not just kissing?”
Iris’s eyes flew open at the unexpected bombshell. “What? Ah, no, that might be a bit...”
Laneige grinned brightly, clenching her fist in excitement. “Hehehe. It’s okay! I’ve already thought of a good method!”
Feeling that it was best not to ask any further, Iris hurriedly changed the subject. “A-anyway! Since Dale fell asleep, how about we have another drink among ourselves?”
“Good idea.”
“I want to drink too!”
“Not you, Yurina.”
“Eh? W-why am I the only one not allowed to?”
Under the dark curtain of night enveloping the party house rooftop, their private celebration began anew.
