Today is Sunday. As per promised, I’m helping out at a soup kitchen organized by High Priest Kiryuu and Albanese since this morning.

To prepare for this day, they had set up stalls and parasols at a nearby park on the previous day. Stoves and tables were also set up.

On the day itself, some staffs and volunteers are to cook stews using the provided equipments, while the others will go get breads from bakeries and bottles of water from convenience stores. Ichika, Yui, Sara and I are of the former. Yui’s mother Mrs Kiryuu is also helping with the cooking while her husband and Albanese are out to get bread and water.

‘So you’re Kagenashi-kun. I’ve been hearing a lot of you from Yui.’ she tells me when we first got introduced.

‘It’s nice to meet you, ma’am.’

She smiles at me. ‘Nice to meet you too. I’m sorry that my husband caused you some trouble when the two of you met for the first time. I made sure to punish him thoroughly for that. Honestly, that man never learns.’

I could only laugh awkwardly at that.

‘That said, after I hear Yui mention you pretty much all the time, I start to think my husband’s idea isn’t so bad after all. How about it? Want to become one of our family by marrying Yui?’

‘Um…’

Yui blushes furiously at that. ‘Mother? What are you saying?’

‘Oh, come now. Don’t act like you don’t like the idea.’

The other girls in my harem look at me nervously, as if worried that I might say yes.

‘Please…give me some time to think about it.’

The girls in my harem all look hopeful at that, even Yui, even though I just refused her mother’s offer.

‘Sure. You’re still young, after all. And I see that Yui has some tough competitions.’ Mrs Kiryuu looks at the other girls. ‘Anyway, let’s get down to cooking.’

‘Yes, ma’am.’

The stews are nothing complicated. Just chunks of carrots, potatoes and chicken meat and broth made of cream and milk. Even so, we need to make lots to feed all the homeless people around the area, so we have been working non-stop since we’ve arrived.

Sakuya, Madoka and Mashiro can’t cook, so they try their best to help us by peeling the carrots and potatoes. Mashiro aside, Sakuya and Madoka are very good with knifes, and the two of them are making good progress compared to other volunteers who are doing the same job. Mashiro is struggling, but at least she’s trying.

‘I’m kind of surprised that you can’t cook, Madoka-chan.’ Sakuya says to Madoka.

‘It’s not like I’ve not tried, but certain terms in cookbooks always confuse me, like “a pinch” and “to taste”. I could never figure out the exact amount when those terms are written.’

‘I know, right~? That’s where I mess up as well, too.’

‘...Sakuya-senpai, what’s the difference between parsley and coriander?’ I ask Sakuya while still working on the stews.

Sakuya gives me a blank look. ‘They’re not the same?’

‘Actually, they’re not.’ Madoka answers for me.

‘Next question. What’s the difference between cornstarch and flour?’

‘Um, cornstarch is made of corn?’

‘Correct. But that’s not what I’m really asking.’

She gives me another blank look.

I manage to stop myself from face-palming. I swear I told her the real answer when she tried to bake a cake using cornstarch, since she ran out of flour at the time (you can’t bake using cornstarch, since it doesn’t contain protein). Also, I asked her the first question since she used coriander instead of parsley when she was cooking penne bolognese. Apparently, she didn’t learn from her lesson at all.

‘Anyway, you could ask Akira-kun to teach you how to cook.’ Sakuya says to Madoka.

Madoka looks at me. ‘Will it be fine?’

‘Ah, why not. I’m already teaching a hopeless case. One more won’t make any difference.’

‘Akira-kun, isn’t “hopeless case” a little too cruel?’ Sakuya asks me.

‘You know, I’m describing someone who can fail at making hard-boiled egg.’

Sakuya looks away and starts to whistle, all the while looking guilty.

‘So it’s fine Kojima, I could teach you when the two of us are free.’

‘Alright. Thank you, then.’

‘Madoka, there isn’t really any need for you to learn how to cook. Akira can cook for you anytime you want.’ Mashiro says.

‘It would do you good to learn how to cook as well, you know?’ I tell her.

Mashiro straight up ignores me, or she got too busy in peeling a potato.

‘My, is it always this lively around you, Kagenashi-kun?’ Mrs Kiryuu asks me.

‘Yes, kind of.’

Mrs Kiryuu chuckles and looks at Yui. ‘Must be tough for you, Yui.’

Yui just ignores her and continues cooking.

When we’re finally done with the stews, it’s already noon. The homeless people are starting to line up near the stall, and all of them will get a piece of bread, a bowl of stew and a bottle of water each.

All of them are very grateful when they received their share of food and drink, and it’s their happy expression that makes me think it’s worthwhile to work hard for the entire morning.

After all of them got their share, it’s the staffs’ and volunteers’ turn to eat.

‘Good work, everyone.’ Albanese tells us.

‘Indeed. The soup kitchen is a success.’ High Priest Kiryuu adds. ‘I especially want to thank my wife and daughter for the success.’

‘Hold on there, Genjirou. Are you saying that Sara’s contribution is negligible?’

‘I didn’t say that. I’m just saying that Yui and Yuuko did better.’

‘Them’s fighting words, Genjirou.’

‘So they are. What are you going to do about it?’

Oh boy. Looks like another doting father has appeared.

‘Will the two of you stop it?’ Mrs Kiryuu intervenes.

‘But Yuuko-’

‘But nothing! Do you want to skip dinner again?’

‘...No, ma’am.’

Well, looks like Mrs Kiryuu is the one in charge in the Kiryuu household.

After we ate lunch, the priests and priestesses of the temple and the Church offer to find jobs suitable for the homeless people. A lot of them accept the offer, but some prefer to stay homeless. I got curious, so I talk with them for a bit.

‘Don’t you want a better life?’ I ask some of them.

This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.

‘A better life? Don’t you mean a life with constant stress? No thanks. I prefer this one.’ one says to me.

‘You know, I used to work as the senior manager of a huge company. I had a huge house, a luxury car, and a loving family.’ a second one says.

‘Really? What happened?’

‘Politics!’ he spits. ‘Rather than concentrating on making profits by working together, everyone was busy backstabbing each other! I was never interested in any of those bullshit, but I still got caught up in it and got fired! After I lost my job and all my properties, did my “loving family” stayed by my side and support me? No! They left me faster than blinking! That’s why I’ve chose to be homeless.’

The first homeless person who spoke nods understandingly. ‘You too, huh? I was the owner of a fishery company, but I got kicked out by my own son. I had trust issues since then.’

I knew this for a long time, but humans can be very ugly. They’ll betray others without a single hint of hesitation if it would make them prosper. This is why it can be tough to be a protector. You would have to protect jerks one of these days, regardless of your opinion on them.

When it’s time to clean up, Mrs Kiryuu tells the girls and I to go back first.

‘But, there’s still lots of things to do.’ I argue.

‘It’s okay. We can handle it. You kids have a festival to attend tonight, right? Now run along.’

Since everyone insists strongly on it, we had to leave early. And so, the girls go back to their room to get changed into their yukatas. As for me, I’m going there with my current outfit, so I’m waiting for evening to arrive while playing video games.

When it’s finally time for us to go to the festival, we meet up at the dorm’s entrance, just like how we usually do. When I got to the entrance, I see five pretty girls in yukatas.

Sakuya is wearing a black yukata, as contrast to her fair skin, and she tied her blond hair into a bun.

Ichika’s yukata is purple in color, and she tied her black, silky hair into a ponytail.

As for Mashiro, her yukata is white, and there are two buns from both side of her head.

Yui is clad in a red yukata. As usual, part of her hair is tied to a ponytail on the right side of her head.

Madoka had her hair tied to a ponytail like Ichika. However, the ponytail isn’t that long since her hair is short. Her yukata is light blue in color.

‘Akira, are you not wearing a yukata as well?’ Ichika asks me when she saw my outfit.

‘Oh come on, no one wants to see a guy wearing yukata.’

Their disappointed expressions told me otherwise.

‘...Fine, I’ll wear it next year. I could get a hanten or something.’

They immediately got more cheerful.

‘By the way, aren’t Shimazaki and the gang going there too?’ I ask Yui.

‘They are, so we might bump into them there.’

The trio from Shut-Ins Club hates the crowd and the normies who go there, so they definitely won’t be there.

While we’re chatting, Sara has arrived at the entrance.

She is the only one who didn’t tie up her hair, and let her blond hair rest behind her shoulders. Her yukata is blue, which matches the color of her eyes.

‘I’m sorry for being late!’ she apologizes.

‘No worries.’

Before we leave, Sakuya suggests to take a selfie, so that’s what we did. After she took the picture with her phone, she posted it on the LINE group she created a few months ago.

The group started off with only Sakuya, Ichika, Mashiro and I. It’s getting bigger as Sakuya added Yui and Madoka into it.

‘Well then, shall we go?’ I ask them.

They nod in agreement.

The festival’s being held at an empty spot next to the shopping district, so we didn’t have to walk far.

‘Where should we start?’ Yui asks.

‘I want to get some food, since I’m starving.’ I answer.

‘Well then, I guess we’ll be going to that yakisoba stand.’ Sakuya points at a stall she saw.

‘Jaga-bata! Corn! Takoyaki! Chocolate banana!’ Mashiro says in an unusually high tension.

‘Calm down, Fuyukaze. Those stalls are not going to run away.’ Ichika tells her.

‘Where do you want to go after we filled our stomach, Madoka-san?’ Sara asks Madoka.

‘I-I’m fine with just following you all.’

She seems surprised that Sara would talk to her, much less call her by her first name.

‘That’s no good! We’re at a festival, so you should enjoy yourselves more!’

‘She’s right, Kojima. Isn’t there any stall you want to check out? Anywhere at all?’ I ask.

‘Well, I’m kind of interested in the shooting range.’ she answers after hesitating for a while.

‘Great! Let’s have lots of fun together tonight!’ Sara tells her.

‘Right…’

Ever since Madoka got Sara out of the cage back in the cave, Sara somehow got quite attached to Madoka. I guess Madoka could use some assertive friends like Sara.

I lined up to get us all yakisobas, and Yui offers to line up with me. To make things more efficient, Mashiro and Ichika went to get takoyaki, while Madoka, Sara and Sakuya went to get chocolate banana and shaved ice.

The girls are more than capable of handling themselves should they get hit on, but I told the to stay on high alert nonetheless, just in case. They promise that they will be careful.

While we’re lining up, I see Yuuji from a distance.

Oh. Right. He existed. I haven’t see him for so long I’ve totally forgot about him.

From what I could gather, he’s trying to hit on two girls who are wearing yukatas. He has such a creepy look it’s making the girls uncomfortable. Luckily, the male friends/boyfriends of the girls came to their rescue, and they chase Yuuji away.

Hmm, I would say I pity Yuuji, since it was him who’s supposed to come here with the girls (but without Sara, of course). But then again, lying is bad.

‘Is something wrong, Kagenashi-kun?’ Yui asks me.

‘No. It’s nothing.’

After all of us bought the food we were assigned to buy, we set off to find a spot so that we could sit down and eat. We had to walk all the way to a riverside, which is at least 10 minutes walk from the festival’s site.

Mashiro looks around cautiously, just in case people are watching. When she confirms that no one is looking at her direction, she takes off her choker. Her left eye immediately turns crimson.

‘That reminds me, are you able to control his powers?’ I ask her.

She nods. ‘Mashiro went to a training room and test it out. She had no problem in using Itachimaru’s power.’

‘...Who?’

‘The Destroyer we met inside Mashiro’s head. Mashiro decided to call him Itachimaru.’

‘And he’s fine with it?’

‘Mashiro doesn’t care about his opinion. He should be glad that Mashiro is feeding him.’

I’m kind of worry that Itachimaru will rebel and take over her body like he did once one of these days, but since Mashiro isn’t worried, I could only pray for her safety.

Sara wonders why Mashiro’s left eye changed color all of a sudden, so Madoka filled her in. Sara looks quite alarmed at first, but chose to believe in Mashiro.

It didn’t take us long to eat up everything we bought, and we go back to the festival once we dispose of all the garbage, like how a responsible person should.

We head straight for a shooting range, since Madoka was interested in playing it. Apparently, she also excels in using a gun, even though the one she’s using now is a fake one, and the bullets are wooden corks. She manage to shoot all the targets without any difficulty and won the grand prize: a huge brown teddy bear.

‘That was amazing, Madoka-san!’ Sara tells Madoka.

‘Thanks. Here.’ Madoka hands the teddy bear to Sara.

‘Huh? Is it really okay?’

‘Yeah. You wanted this, don’t you? I saw you staring at it.’

‘Oh, thank you, Madoka-san! Thank you!’ Sara hugs the teddy bear happily. ‘I’ll definitely treasure it!’

Sara is so happy she took a selfie with the teddy bear…and a awkward-looking Madoka.

‘You’re supposed to smile for the camera, Kojima.’ I tell her.

‘L-Like this?’

Madoka shows us the stiffest smile we’ve ever seen. It was so stiff and awkward looking I had to hold my breath to prevent myself from laughing.

Sara was unfazed by it, and took the picture anyway.

‘Wow, it turned out nice!’

Seriously?

‘I’ll send this to you.’ Sara tells Madoka.

‘Okay.’

‘.…And, sent. Why don’t you check whether you got it?’

Madoka takes our her phone and search for the picture.

‘I got it.’ she confirms.

‘I love this picture so much I think I’ll use this as my phone’s wallpaper.’

‘Huh? What?’

‘See?’ Sara shows Madoka her phone’s screen.

‘Um, is that a good idea?’

She probably realize how stiff her smile is in the picture.

‘Of course it is!’

Sara suddenly looks at Madoka expectantly, her blue eyes sparkling, probably hoping Madoka would do the same. Madoka looks very reluctant, but she did it anyway.

‘Yay! Now our screensavers are matching!’ Sara says happily.

‘Y-Yeah…’

The atmosphere between them suddenly got very sparkly. If this was a manga, There will probably be flowers at the background. Lily flowers, that is. I guess this is nice in itself.

After this, we went to all kinds of stall. There’s the goldfish-scooping, where Ichika scooped up ten goldfish in three seconds. However, she released them back when she’s done, as she has no interest in taking care of them, and she doesn’t want to bankrupt the stallkeeper. He’s very grateful about it.

I see a stall that has ring-toss game, and I pay the stallkeeper to play it. I didn’t win anything, as my aim was kind of lousy. Even so, I had fun. And I realize that the reason I played it without thinking is because I played it with my parents in real life when I was very small, way before our relationship turned sour. I try not to delve on the memory.

While we’re walking around, Mashiro got hungry again, so she got herself cotton candy and apple candy. This time, she’s eating while walking, which is why she can’t unlock her choker so that Itachimaru can have half of those. Or maybe she doesn’t want to share those treats with him. It’s hard to tell.

After that, we went to more stalls. Darts. Fishing. More food stalls. Everyone had a pretty good time. We also bump into Shimazaki and the gang, and Oomori insists on wanting to walk around with Mashiro, so the two of them go wild all over the place.

When it’s almost time for the fireworks show to start, we try to find a good spot to watch it. However, everywhere we go is full of people. Suddenly, Mashiro speaks up.

‘Follow Mashiro.’ she tells us.

She brings us to a secluded forest. It’s indeed devoid of people, but there’s no way we could see fireworks from here with all the trees blocking the view.

Just as I was about to ask her the reason she brought us here, she unlocks her choker once again. And then, she uses Itachimaru’s power to make us float.

‘Wha-? What’s going on?’ Sara asks in a panic.

‘Don’t worry, it’s just Fuyukaze.’ Madoka tries to calm her down by saying.

‘It’s safe.’ Mashiro assures her.

Well that’s reassuring. I’m still freaking out, though.

We rise up higher and higher, until we almost touch the clouds.

‘Akira-kun, are you all right?’ Sakuya asks in concern when she saw my pale face.

‘I’ll live.’

She’s having a complicated expression, probably because she couldn’t decide whether to tease me or comfort me.

The fireworks show soon started, and we have the best seat to watch it. While ignoring the fact that we’re quite high up from the ground.

The show lasted for 15 minutes, which is the longest 15 minutes of my life. I can’t really enjoy the show, since I couldn’t stop thinking about what would happen if we fall fro this height.

I could only breath normally after we reach the ground. I was never this scared.

‘Sorry Akira, Mashiro forgot about your fear of height.’ Mashiro apologizes while she’s putting back her choker into her neck.

‘It’s fine.’ I assure her. ‘At least we got to watch the fireworks in peace.’

After the fireworks show is over, we walked Sara and Yui home. Only then, we go back to our dorm.