“Th-then put us in the same position as Yumina and Linze!”
”…Eh?”
I’d come to. Bracing for whatever the loser’s-forfeit was going to be, that was what hit me.
“L-look — that is — w-we want, too…! E-Elze-dono, you go first!”
“Wha——!? N-no, I’m… ahh… a-anyway — first — I like Touya too!”
“It is, the same for me, indeed.”
Both their faces went crimson and they both stared at the ground. …What?
Suddenly duelled — and now confessed to. Both at once. What kind of popularity-arc is this?
“Same position as Yumina and Linze… that means…”
“That we, ah, also want to be Lord Touya’s wives… indeed.”
“O-or rather — do it! Y-y-you lost, so!”
I pinched my cheek. Pain. Real. In one stroke I was up to four prospective brides. Wait, wait, wait. Isn’t this getting excessive?
Then again — Tokugawa Ienari had 40-plus consorts and 50-plus kids, didn’t he. Compared to that… no, no — comparison is wrong from the jump!
That guy was drinking powdered seal junk for stamina and was nicknamed “Seal Shōgun.” I do not want to be in the same category.
The internal commentary won’t shut up.
“Are you two… fine with that?”
“I don’t mind. My feelings for Touya aren’t changing — and if all of us love the same person and can all be happy, that’s nothing but win.”
Linze said almost the same thing yesterday. Twins — thought patterns track.
“I love everyone here as much as I love Lord Touya, indeed. To become brides together — that would be tenfold joy.”
What is it with women in this world — possessiveness so light? Hmm — is this what polygamy as a custom produces? Or are mine specifically unusual? In an ordinary setting this would be the height of drama. They don’t really jealous over each other. Mild stings, sure. On reflection, Linze’s the most jealous of them.
“S-s-so, what about you…?”
“Eh?”
“H-how do you feel about us!?”
Ah — right. Events have been firing so fast my reflexes have dulled. Get it together.
Should answer honestly, I think.
“Like or dislike — like, obviously. Both of you are cute, with good personalities. But love? Not sure yet. Same as with Yumina and Linze. Glad you confessed, but I’m hesitating to accept knowing I’m not at love yet.”
“But you accepted those two, indeed?”
“I wasn’t lying about liking them, and I really do want to cherish them. They said they were okay with that on their end.”
Marriage as an act itself still feels unreal — can’t fully imagine it. Without actually dating in the first place, I can’t really picture being married.
Ah — my cousin’s older brother skipped all that and got married because a kid was on the way. No wonder he was panicking.
“Meaning — you like us as much as Yumina or Linze? Then there’s no problem.”
“But Yumina and the others — what they’d say…”
“That side is fine, indeed. The one who first invited us to also become brides — was Lady Yumina.”
…What?
“When you got the mansion from the king, Yumina told me straight: she figured we all loved Touya, and proposed we all become wives together. Couldn’t see that far at the time, me and Yae. But gradually, you know? Started feeling like that wouldn’t be so bad. And yesterday Linze’s tear-around made it crystal-clear. I want to be by Touya too.”
Elze’s eyes were level and direct. Without hesitation. Face still slightly red, though.
“I came to think — if everyone could live as a family with Lord Touya at the center — that would be wonderful, indeed. To be frank, I am not yet as broad-minded as Lady Yumina, but I, too, wish to spend my life with Lord Touya.”
Yumina was casually offering ten or twenty mistresses… That generosity (?) must be the calm of the Lawful Wife (self-proclaimed).
“So… w-w-what’s your answer?”
”…I understand both of your feelings. I like you both, too. Elze, you’re bright and energetic, a bit stubborn — but I think those things are cute too. Yae, I know how seriously and beautifully you carry yourself, how much you love your family. And you’re kind to kids. Both of you would make wonderful wives.”
“Then——”
I cut Elze’s eager momentum off with a raised palm.
“Just — give me a little time. I’ll have an answer by evening. I want to think.”
”…Got it.”
”…Understood, indeed.”
◇ ◇ ◇ ◇ ◇
Home — I went straight to my room while Elze and Yae went to find Yumina and the others.
I sat on the bed, let out a long breath, and fell back.
What do I do. …Not a choice question — I already know the answer. Once I accepted Linze, refusing only those two is impossible.
In my heart, all four are equally precious to me. Don’t want to hurt any of them. Which is exactly why — am I really the right person? keeps surfacing. I’m scared that the result would be making them unhappy.
Or maybe — let’s just call it: I’m scared. Of marriage. Not just my problem — their lives on my shoulders. Caution makes sense. And times four. Can I even carry all that?
“Ugh… ask someone for advice?”
Lime-san… he’ll side with Yumina. Lapis-san, Cécile-san, Claire-san — anyone female feels too tough to consult. Renee — out of the question. Frio-san… a bit unreliable.
…Only one person, then.
Once that’s decided — there’s something I’d been wanting to try. Good opportunity. In person beats talking over the phone.
I headed to the kitchen and packed an assortment of guest-grade baked goods. I tucked the bundle under my arm.
“[Gate].”
I stepped through the door of light and emerged onto a cramped four-and-a-half-mat tatami floor — though without walls, the view opened on the radiant sea of clouds with an old low chabudai in the middle of it. Nostalgic.
At the chabudai, an old man frozen with a senbei cracker between his lips.
“O-oh — it’s you. If you’re coming, send word first. Actually — didn’t think you could come.”
“Long time, kami-sama.”
I’d suspected I could come here too if I’d been once, but even I hadn’t quite expected to actually pull it off.
“There’s plenty of magic in this place too, so. That’s probably why. Your old world’s magic is too thin for transfer.”
“This is a gift — cookies.”
“Oh, you didn’t have to. Let me brew some tea.”
He poured tea from the kyūsu into the yunomi. Tea-leaf stood vertically in the cup. Kami-sama power, no doubt.
I sipped the hot tea quietly. Delicious. Green tea for the first time in a while.
“What brings you?”
“Ah… was hoping you’d lend an ear to a consultation…”
“Mm? Tell me.”
I laid it out. What I should do; how I should engage with these girls going forward. The whole picture in detail.
“Hmm — no need to think about it so deeply. They’re saying they like you, so be glad about it plainly.”
“I am glad — but there’s been a lot to think through.”
Confiding in a god feels uncomfortably close to confession. Not that I’ve committed a crime.
“Hmm. For that sort of talk, let’s get the specialist on the line.”
“Eh?”
The kami-sama reached for the black telephone beside him and started dialing.
After a moment, a figure rose into view from the sea of clouds. Early twenties; soft pink hair; a soft, gauzy overlay over a white outfit; drifting through the air toward us. Gold rings clinked at her wrists, ankles, and throat. Ah — barefoot.
“Sorry to keep you, no-yo.”
She exchanged a light greeting and settled gently in front of the chabudai.
“Um — and this is…?”
“The Love Goddess. Perfect for your matter, yeah?”
Love Goddess!? This person!?
“Nice to meet you, no-yo. I’d been curious about you for a while, so I’d peeked in now and then.”
Right — kami-sama had mentioned that on the phone when Yumina came up. That a Love Goddess was very interested in me. That’s the one, then. Didn’t think I’d actually be consulting her. Only the gods know — literally.
“Love Goddess means — the goddess of love?”
“That’s right, no-yo. Not that I manipulate people’s feelings, no-yo. I just nudge the atmosphere a bit, or arrange those staple love-tropes — that kind of thing.”
“Tropes?”
Right, romance tropes. The cliché ones — “Late, late!” with the girl running with toast in her mouth, who collides with the cool boy on a corner — that sort of thing.
“That’s right, no-yo. Guys who say “After this battle’s over, I’m getting married…” — those guys can never get married, no-yo.”
“That’s you!?”
Hold on — that’s not just “can’t get married,” that’s “dies”! Flag of death, not flag of love!
“So — what’s up, no-yo?”
Consulting this person feels deeply uncertain, but no help for it. For all that — she IS the Love Goddess. Maybe she’ll give some advice.
“Hmm — sounds like an interesting situation you’ve got there, no-yo.”
The Love Goddess, having heard me out, smirked and crunched into one of the cookies from the chabudai. Bad manners, Love Goddess.
“But I don’t see the issue, no-yo. If you all like each other, that’s all there is to it, no-yo.”
“But four at once…”
“First mistake — let go of the common sense of your old world, no-yo. If you only really liked one of them and the others were bonus, or pity-included — that would be insincere, awful, no-yo. But if you love all four and genuinely want them all happy — that, in itself, is real love, no-yo.”
Love. Do I really have that depth of feeling, though.
“Why did they all fall for me, anyway…”
“Hard to say, no-yo. Some fall the moment they meet you; some are too close to recognize their own feelings. As many people, as many reasons. People come to love for all kinds of reasons, no-yo.”
Understood and not understood. Probably — love has no fixed shape.
“I think you just lack confidence in yourself, no-yo. You’re unsure whether you can be the kind of presence that meets their feelings. But that’s not for you to decide, no-yo. That’s for them, no-yo.”
Ugh. …She might be right. I’d been pinning a self-imposed ideal on myself and getting a self-imposed complex about falling short of it.
“Be more honest with what you feel right now, no-yo. Answer or don’t answer — your choice — and considering their feelings matters too. But fooling your own feelings — that’s a no. That’s rude to the girls who confessed, no-yo.”
“Right… I get to be selfish too, you mean.”
“Naturally, no-yo. Only one side’s happiness isn’t love, no-yo. Without your happiness too, it’s meaningless, no-yo.”
Yeah — fair. I have lines I won’t cross. From there, we hash it out and meet in the middle. Going to spend my whole life with these people; this much I’ll be allowed.
“Got your answer?”
The kami-sama asked, as if he’d read my mind.
“Don’t know yet. But I can see it.”
“Mm — that’s the most important thing.”
“Glad my tropes won’t go to waste, no-yo.”
…Hm? Something stuck. “Tropes” — the romance flags from earlier?
“What do you mean, your tropes?”
“Earlier, I produced the Just-Happened-To-Walk-In-On-Her-Changing-In-The-Bath, Big Surprise! one. You’re welcome, no-yo.”
“That was you!?”
The Love Goddess’s tastes evidently ran to the most over-the-shelf clichés.
◇ ◇ ◇ ◇ ◇
In the evening I gathered the four into the living room. Lime-san and Lapis-san and the rest were asked to step out. Just the four who’d confessed, and me.
The four sat in a row on the sofa across from me, waiting for me to speak.
Every one of them is a girl I’d say is too good for me. Which is exactly why I don’t want to lie — and I want them to know what I really feel.
“All right… first… I’m not getting married.”
""""Ehh——!?!?""""
The four jumped up in unison; the shock-cry rang through the living room.