Following Sakura Mai, she stepped into the maple grove.
Su Yuzu walked behind the girl.
Sakura Mai always moved like the wind — her motions clean and decisive.
It was only that, ever since she'd begun wearing those wide-legged trousers slit along both thighs, the wind would pour into her pant legs as she moved, raising a sharp fluttering sound.
From Su Yuzu's vantage point, she could just glimpse the well-honed, supple lines of the Knight Princess.
That faint, half-glimpsed hint of thigh was, somehow, far more captivating than if Sakura Mai had simply stood before her in a swimsuit.
"Ahem..." Soga Yura, puffing her cheeks indignantly, hooked her arm around Su Yuzu's.
Walking ahead, Sakura Mai turned back and looked at her roommate with mild confusion. "Yura?"
Soga Yura took in Sakura Mai's questioning expression, then glanced at the girl beside her — at that almost mischievous, gloating delight, as though some little scheme had just paid off — and could only glare in flustered embarrassment. "Just choked on something."
"It's nothing."
Though Sakura Mai didn't quite understand, she chalked it up to Soga Yura and Sister Yuzu playing some sort of amusing little game between themselves.
Without saying more, she led the girls through the maple grove.
Su Yuzu gazed at the leaves, mottled green and red.
The maple's new leaves blushed crimson while its old leaves had turned back to green, and here and there hung a leaf that was half-green and half-red. For a fleeting moment, Su Yuzu even fell prey to the illusion that the red was blood splashed across them — staining the leaves crimson.
Arm in arm with Soga Yura, Su Yuzu stepped into the Sakura family residence.
Though calling it a residence was not quite right — "dojo" would have been the more accurate description.
The Sakura family's swordsmanship was the "Erasure Divine Purity Style," though nowadays the Sakura family's dojo was no longer open to the public, and politely turned all visitors away.
The Sakura residence breathed the air of years weathered by wind and frost wherever one looked — flagstone paths edged with sparse moss, stone statues that looked like sword-bearing samurai, half-sunken into the earth.
And then, in the courtyard, there was that enormous ancient cherry tree. It was right at its season of blossom; the pink-white sakura were dazzlingly beautiful, petals carpeting the ground.
Only... Su Yuzu found that the Sakura household's layout struck her as somehow strange.
The style was very similar to the courtyard where they'd been staying in "Tsukimisato" — or rather—
That courtyard in "Tsukimisato" had been built using this one as its blueprint.
The corner of Su Yuzu's eye twitched, and inwardly she could only marvel that Honored Aunt truly was a free-spirited, unrestrained woman.
The location where Sakura Mai's parents had arranged to meet Su Yuzu and Soga Yura was not the residence's reception hall, but the dojo behind the residence.
You had to walk a long way through an ancient-looking, lengthy wooden corridor before you arrived.
As Sakura Mai put it: for the Sakura family, unimportant guests could be dismissed at the gate, troublesome ones dealt with in the courtyard, important guests received in the reception hall — and the most important guests of all, the Sakura family would choose to meet within the dojo.
Mimicking Sakura Mai, they slipped off their shoes and set them aside with care; then Su Yuzu and Soga Yura stepped into the Sakura family dojo.
The first person they laid eyes on... was the alluringly beautiful, long-flaxen-haired lady they'd already met once before, with whom they shared a rather delicate prior experience.
The woman wore kendo robes much like the ones on Sakura Mai, the trousers similarly cut with that curious slit along the sides; as the woman shifted her posture, one could catch hazy glimpses of fair, pale lines beneath.
Even the loose kendo robes could hardly mask the woman's strikingly proud figure, and those eyes — clear as lake water — lit up with delight the instant they found Su Yuzu and Soga Yura.
Sakura Renxin had a natural fondness for cute girls.
"Sister Yuzu~~~"
Hearing how Sakura Renxin addressed Su Yuzu, the corner of every eye in the room nearly twitched in unison.
"Honored Aunt——" Su Yuzu bowed obediently to Sakura Renxin.
This time the girl didn't dare to humor Sakura Renxin by docilely calling her "Big Sister."
Because... Su Yuzu's gaze had drifted to the figure behind Sakura Renxin.
The woman, in kendo garb of white above and black below, sat there rather rakishly — one leg folded, the other propped up, an arm draped across the knee.
Her gaze looked languid yet utterly free-spirited.
A romantic air uniquely belonging to swordsmen.
But... even Su Yuzu, who could only barely be counted as a mental-type Esper, could sharply sense the danger emanating from this woman.
She... was even stronger than the Fifth Sequence Sakura Renxin.
A single glance at her was probably enough to make anyone understand why, all those years ago, Sakura Renxin had forced her way into Tennoji Jurei's bedroom and insisted on partnering up with Tennoji Jurei.
Beautiful.
Bewitchingly beautiful.
In terms of pure beauty, the woman seemed to harbor something almost demonic within her.
Just by sitting there, she made people feel drawn in, captivated... and though she wore only ordinary kendo robes, the beauty radiating from her remained wholly unaffected by what she had on.
If Su Yuzu had been born in the same era as this woman, she'd probably have done much the same thing Sakura Renxin had done.
Tennoji Jurei.
Heir to the Tennoji Dojo — and also... Sakura Mai's father.
"Tennoji-senpai." Su Yuzu bowed with even greater respect.
"No need to stand on such ceremony... just treat this place as your own home." Quite at odds with that perilously beautiful exterior, a remarkably soft, gentle voice rose into the air. Tennoji Jurei stood up and looked Soga Yura and Su Yuzu over, the words seeming to carry some hidden meaning between them.
Su Yuzu and Soga Yura watched as Sakura Renxin, with practiced familiarity, slipped her arms around Tennoji Jurei.
The gaze of that demonically beautiful person grew very tender whenever it came to rest on the Sakura Renxin beside her.
Soga Yura watched on with envy.
"And Honored Grandfather?" Sakura Mai cast a glance around the dojo.
Tennoji Jurei spared the woman beside her a single look. "Driven off by your mother, what else?"
Sakura Renxin shot Tennoji Jurei a sulky glare; though to outside observers, the woman's expression looked more like coquetry.
Su Yuzu had heard tales about that old master of the Sakura family.
Back when things between Sakura Mai's mother and Tennoji Jurei had not yet been settled, he'd huffed and bristled and refused to consent.
But after that wedding of the century — or rather, after the rice had already been cooked, so to speak — the old master had instead become the newlyweds' most steadfast defender.
With a manner that all but declared: should anyone dare so much as a stray word of gossip, the old master would instantly take back his old vow never to draw his sword again and march straight to their door, the Sword of Erasure in hand.
Tennoji Jurei regarded Su Yuzu and Soga Yura. "But this works out, actually."
"Some of what comes next... really would be a touch inconvenient with Honored Father around."
Hearing Tennoji Jurei's words, Sakura Mai's earlobes suddenly took on a faint flush of red.
And as Tennoji Jurei's voice trailed off, an almost ominous premonition welled up in Su Yuzu's heart.
After the brief pleasantries, Tennoji Jurei fixed her gaze on Su Yuzu. "I've heard the purpose of your visit."
"But I'm sorry... we don't have any impressions of Saint Michael either."
"However..."
"There is another matter we'd like to ask Yuzu to try."
Thump-thump——
Su Yuzu was already beginning to feel that something was off.
"I've heard... that Yuzu pulled out the Sword of Erasure not long ago." Within the dojo, even Sakura Renxin's expression had turned serious.
"Could Yuzu... try it again?"
Su Yuzu looked at Tennoji Jurei standing before her, then glanced sideways... at Sakura Mai, who had already tilted her head away, wearing a rare expression of embarrassed shame.
Try it again!??
How was she supposed to try!?
If her memory served... Sister Sakura's Sword of Erasure was lodged in...!???
____
________________________________________
🌸 Help Love Bloom!
Our girls need a little push... and you can help!
💖 Gift for Everyone: Once we hit 50 Powerstones, I'll release +1 bonus chapter to warm your hearts.
🚀 Community Reward: If we reach 20 supporting members, we'll have a +5 chapter marathon across all stories! The romance won't stop.
👻 Come to our secret corner: Search for GirlsLove on (P). You know that's where the magic happens... 😉