Yo! Here’s the Chapter 6/Part 1 I thought was Chapter 5 and accidentally uploaded—-me smartypants.
Had a bit of a scare recently, my ear hurt and got blocked for a few days. I was afraid I’d gotten an ear infection, but it cleared up luckily.
Anyways, enjoy reading…or re-reading I suppose. We have NTSW stuff to look forward to next time, though~
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His eyes opened abruptly at a hint of movement.
The room was already bright. Having become aware of the sound of rustling clothes he tried to get up, but just as he did that his vision shook and he felt dizzy.
“—-You’re up?”
“…Izuna.”
He raised his eyelids towards Izuna’s voice. He peeked at Izuna, who had already finished preparing. It seemed like he had somehow overslept.
“Sorry, I…”
“It’s fine, go sleep some more. The alcohol has probably not faded yet. Your complexion is bad.”
“Uuuh…sorry.”
This was his first experience with it, but most likely this was the so called hangover.
“Medicine has been boiled for you so you have to drink it. And then…”
As Izuna cut off his words there for the moment, he almost hanged over him and peeked at Yukino.
As he blinked, startled at the sudden decrease in distance…
“——Be prepared for tonight.”
His voice oozed lust that could make one’s lower body shiver.
“Whaa…”
“Well then, I’m off to work. I’ll be back at supper again.”
Izuna gently caressed Yukino’s hair, said that and left the room.
Yukino, who had gone stiff within the futon, finally sluggishly started to get up once everything had gone completely silent.
He felt like Izuna’s words were still ringing in his ears, so he unconsciously rubbed the area around his ears.
And then, as he thought about the meaning of those words, he felt his cheeks gradually heat up.
That’s right. Isn’t today the day Izuna will have to pour divinity in him?
It was already useless when he realized it.
“Yukino-sama, how do you feel?”
“Waa…”
There was a tap at the door and Yukino raised his voice in surprise. Just as he did that his voice made his head hurt and he seized his forehead.
“Yukino-sama? I brought medicine…”
It was Saburouta’s voice he could hear. Now that he mentioned it, Yukino had a feeling Izuna had said something about medicine.
“Ahh, sorry. That would be great…”
As he spoke half-groaning, the door was opened quietly and Saburouta entered holding a tray.
“It’s painful, right?”
On top of the lacquered tray there were two teacups and a pitcher of water.
“Here. This is medicine prepared by Izuna-sama. It’s very effective.”
Saburouta handed over to him a covered teacup.
“Izuna?”
“Yea. Creating medicine is our family’s specialty, but the medicine made by the Tengu Chief is famous even among other gods as a cure-all panacea.”
“Heee…”
Yukino accepted the cup while admiring it. It was slightly warm. Then he calmly took off the lid, but…
“Uu”
He guessed this is the so-called medicated bath. A peculiar smell Yukino could not name rose from the cup and unconsciously he averted his face from it. Seemingly quite aware of people having this sort of reaction, Saburouta laughed a little.
“It’s bitter but please drink it in one go. Afterwards there’s some plain hot water.”
Oh, it seemed like it was there to remove the bad taste.
Even though he recoiled from the green liquid, with the thought that Izuna had made this for me pressing on his back, Yukino gulped down the medicine in one go. Afterwards, he accepted the hot water that had been quickly handed to him, and also drank it in one go.
“Well done. Well then, with this I think you’ll be feeling better if you rest for about an hour more…I’ll come again to check on you.”
“I’m sorry, thank you.”
As Yukino thanked him, Saburouta shook his head in denial and left the room. After he saw him off, Yukino once again laid down.
However, as he lying down still like that, as expected he unconsciously began to think about the thing that’s going to happen tonight.
He had already been embraced twice so the third time should be the same….even though that is what he thought.
Why? Just by thinking about it his mood became unbearable, embarrassed, yet he also wanted the evening to come sooner, he could not understand the reason for his feelings.
—–Be prepared for tonight.
“Be prepared…what does that mean…”
The moment he recalled Izuna’s voice, as if to drive away the shivers running over his back, Yukino slipped inside the futon and curled up his body.
…
“Yukino-sama, what is this?”
“Ah, that is…”
After lunch, when Yukino had changed clothes, Saburouta noticed the two feathers that had been left on top of the chest of drawers.
One of them Yukino had left there himself, but the other had clearly been put in the sleeve of his yukata. He guessed that, most likely, Izuna had taken it out before they entered the futon so that it would not break.
Yukino accepted the feathers, and stared at them. A small feather that been somewhat battered by the passage of months and years and a black and beautiful large feather. He should put them together somewhere, is what he thought, but…
“Umm, is there no accessory case or something like that in which I could put these feathers? Err, one I could carry them in.”
“I see, they’re this big, so…please wait a moment.”
Saburouta said that and what he brought back was a set of a long and narrow cylinder and a pouch.
“It’s a tobacco container. Originally you would put a smoking pipe in it.”
The long and narrow cylinder was close to 20 centimeters, if he cut off a little bit of the end of the big feather it would probably fit.
“Thank you. But, is it okay to give this to me?”
The craftsmanship of the cylinder was fine and there was beautiful embroidery on the pouch. It was not a pompous thing, but even Yukino who was unfamiliar with such things could tell that it had been made with great care.
“Yes, yes. It had been a hobby of the previous chief, so there are several of them; they have been tucked away for a long time.”
“Is that so? In that case, I will use it with great care. Thank you.”
Having expressed his gratitude, Yukino tried to put each of the feathers into the cylinder and the pouch. The pouch had a bit of a strange smell, but that was probably the scent of tobacco? Yukino who had not even smoked paper cigarettes, to say nothing of the smoking pipe, was not familiar with it.
“As expected, it’s sticking out a little bit.”
“Here’s a small knife if you want it.”
Borrowing the small knife that Saburouta had withdrawn from his breast pocket, Yukino sat in front of the dresser to cut off the part of the feather that was sticking out. He imagined it would be dangerous to do it while standing up.
He pressed the edge of the well-maintained knife against the quill of the feather.
“However, if he knew that Yukino-sama is always carrying his feather, I am sure Izuna-sama would be happy as well.”
“Ee? Aaaa…”
“Yukino-sama!”
His heart had begun to pound at the happily spoken words and his hand had slipped. But luckily the wound was not so serious that it would bleed.
“It’s alright, I just grazed myself a bit.”
The knife had struck exactly at the edge of his fingernail, so one of his fingernails had become shorter, but that was not a problem.
But, rather the words Saburouta had just spoken were a bigger problem…
“Izuna will be happy about it?”
“Ee? Yes, of course.”
Saburouta gave a big nod. Yukino felt like he could not say anything, and whirled the feather whose quill had been shortened around.
That had not been his intention.
He was not really against making Izuna happy, but what was it? Really, it was really embarrassing…
After a brief period of indecision, as planned Yukino stored away the feather and returned the knife to Saburouta.
It truly was embarrassing, but it really was not the case that he did not want to make Izuna happy. But, perhaps he should say he was troubled by having a strange expectation…
No, he felt it was a little bit wrong as well.
While Yukino surveyed his feelings, he also released a sigh.
“On that subject, how do you use this thing?”
“You hang it from the obi like this.”
Saburouta said and Yukino nodded in understanding, seeing the pouch hanging from the obi by a cord.
“Well then, Izuna-sama asked us to prepare some ink and a brush for you. It’s in the other room.”
For a moment he tilted his head in confusion, but now that he thought about it he had spoken about writing a letter to the company last night.
Err, rather than a letter, it would be a notice of resignation?
He had already been absent from work for several days, but he believed it was still a little bit better than running away without saying anything like this.
Since he had already written down the contents of the letter once, one way or another he’ll probably manage it, but instead the problem was the writing brush?
While thinking about these things, Yukino sighed.
Until yesterday when Izuna had told him he had gone to his apartment to get the feather, he had thought that without exception he no longer could be concerned with the affairs of his old…human world, but if things were like this, he thought it would have been better if Izuna had told him this earlier.
“No, that’s wrong?”
“What is?”
“Ah, no, it’s nothing.”
Shaking his head, he followed Saburouta to another room.
—–that’s right, he was wrong.
There was no clear reason for Izuna to tell him this earlier.
If it was for the sake of Yukino to keep on living here, Izuna would probably happily lend a hand.
Vacating the apartment, leaving the company, both were desires that Yukino who had just come here had not spoken of.
What had changed was Yukino’s heart.
Why? Since when did it change?
The moment he decided to marry Izuna so he could keep his position? Or…
He did not know.
On top of having been fretting like this Yukino was not used to using a brush, so he miswrote many times.
In the end, he only finished the letter after time had come for him to go to the kitchen to prepare a dish for the evening meal…
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Although right in the background I’m rapid-translating Mating Desire, I’d like to set up a weekly update day. I’m thinking Saturday currently, so if I decide to stick with it there will an update on that day. I’d still update as I finish sections of MD, so there will be more than one update in a week until I finish MD.
If you’d prefer some other day, feel free to leave your thoughts.
I’m also planning to re-vamp the Patreon goals, and some other stuff, as well as ko-fi to reflect my current situation, I just haven’t figured it all out yet.
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