[Book of Eros] Chapter 162: Group outing and an important matter. (Patreon)

The second day of the festival was reserved for a full group outing. Or it would be the full group if Angela wasn’t being stubborn. Leonardo stood with the girls in the dining room as they tried to convince the blonde.

“Come on,” Valerie insisted. “We’ll be walking in a group of six. It’s hardly a date anymore, so you might as well come with us.”

“It’s your moment. Go have fun,” Angela shrugged. “I already went with him yesterday, anyway.”

“But the fireworks are today,” Reiko told her. “Come watch them with us.”

“At what time do they start?”

“10:00 pm.”

Angela sighed. “I don’t know Reiko…”

Leo felt it was time for him to interject, as they’d been trying to convince her for too long already. “I left dinner in the fridge,” he told her. “You just need to heat it up. The fireworks start at ten, but meet us outside the shrine at 9:40, okay?”

“I still haven’t said I’ll go, Leo.”

“I’m not speaking of the festival,” he said. “There’s something else we need to do. All of us. If you don’t want to come with us now, that’s fine, but I need you to be there at 9:40 pm.” His tone left no room to argue, and Angela understood that, at least. It wasn’t about anything regarding their relationship, but something else.

“What do you mean?” Kaede asked.

Leo smiled at her. “You’ll see when the time comes. Like I said, it’s important.” He turned to Angela again. “Then we’ll be going. Remember to leave the doors locked when you go out. Mrs. Wisler is seeing some people.”

And so, Leonardo, Reiko, Kaede, Valerie, Lucia and Seina all left the Tensai Residence.

He and Valerie were weariing the same outfits as yesterday, and the rest of the girls were also dressed in yukatas of different colors. Reiko in light pink, Kaede in deep blue, Lucia in white, Seina in black, and Valerie still in crimson.

Leo swallowed his grievances. In a group this large, with beautiful girls clad in traditional clothing of impeccable quality, and him the only man among them. With him having been seen with two different girls yesterday and now with this group today, they were definitely going to be the talk of town for a long time.

They arrived at the lights and buzzing of the festival once more, no less busy for being the second day. In fact, there may have been even more people than the day before. The promise of fireworks likely drawing more visitors.

“Okay, since you two already came here yesterday,” Reiko started, looking at Leo and Valerie, “we get to pick where we go.”

“We did see most of it,” Valerie said. “Okay, sure.”

“I need some taiyaki,” Seina said. “I’m having a serious craving for sweets.”

“I want to play some games,” Kaede said, a big smile adorning her face. “I want to try to get some goldfish!”

“Planning on keeping a pet?” Lucia asked. “I hear those are easy to care for.”

“I can give you my fish tank,” Reiko said. “I haven’t used it in years and have no space for it in my room. You’ll need to buy a new filter, though.”

“How can you like those things?” Valerie asked, shuddering. “They look so weird.”

“Really? I think they’re cute,” Kaede answered. “I was reading a magazine on marine biology once and saw some actually scary fish. Gave me nightmares for days.”

Curious, Leo asked. “At what age was this?”

“Seven. Why?”

Reading magazines on marine biology at seven? At that age Leo struggled to read the school mandated books.

“What animals do you like, Valerie?” Seina asked. “What would you have as a pet?”

“Dogs. Definitely dogs,” the redhead answered with ease. “Loyal, full of energy, obedient… The perfect pet, hands now.”

“That very much depends on the breed,” Lucia pointed out. They reached the stall where they sold taiyaki, got some for everyone and continued walking, looking at the stalls as they continued the conversation. “There are breeds that are not as energetic as you’d want, and others that might give Leo a run for his money,” she joked.

“I hear retrievers are very energetic,” Reiko said. “Huskies too.”

“If you try to get a husky I will leave the house,” Leo said, exaggerating just to get the point across.

“Don’t like dogs?” Seina asked him.

“I love dogs,” he answered, shaking his head. “Love huskies, too, don’t get me wrong. I just had a neighbor who owned a husky and the damn dog would throw very loud tantrums every hour or so.”

“A husky would have a terrible time in this heat, though,” Kaede pointed out. “What breed would you have, Leo?”

“A german shepherd,” he answered quickly. “Smart, protective, easy to train, calm, can follow established rules…”

“Huh… Sure you weren’t a german shepherd in a previous life?” Lucia asked him, genuinely curious.

“I wish,” Leo laughed.

“So… are you getting a fish or a dog in the end?” Reiko asked Kaede.

“I still want a fish. Though I wouldn’t be opposed to having a dog in the house…”

They took their time enjoying the festival. Kaede managed to catch four fish, which was impressive when Seina tried and managed to catch none and was given one as a consolation prize.

They competed at the shooting game, too, and Lucia whooped all their butts effortlessly. The most surprising thing was what she said after having won.

“Not like it feels anything like a real gun.”

That gave them all pause to let her words sink in.

“Are you implying… you’ve fired a real gun?” Reiko asked.

“Used to frequent shooting ranges in America,” Lucia answered with a proud smirk. “I used to own a rifle and a couple of nice pistols but I sold them when I started traveling more.”

“You really have tired a lot of things, huh?” Seina said with a resigned sigh.

Time went on, and without them even realizing it was 9:40 pm. The fireworks would start in 20 minutes, and it was time they met with Angela. Leo asked the girls to follow him, and they did. Angela was waiting for them at the entrance to the shire, dressed in shorts and a yellow tank top.

“What are you planning, Leo?” she asked.

“You’ll see. Can you all come with me? We need to go up the mountain.”

The group followed Leo’s lead, following the road that led to Victoria’s gym, then past it until the road ended.

“Let’s wait for a little bit. Mrs. Wisler should be here soon,” he told them.

“Huh? Why is my mother coming here?” Lucia asked.

“We’re here to pay our respects,” Leo answered.

The lights of a car soon shone on them, and from the cab emerged Mrs. Wisler, wearing not a yukata, but a full on kimono. Far more elaborate than the yukatas they were all wearing. She also had a wooden box on her hand.

“I’m not late, I hope?” she said.

“Not at all. We need to go into the woods. It’ll be a dark, so get your phones out.”

“Yeah, this isn’t creepy at all, Leo,” Valerie told him.

“Sorry,” he chuckled. “I considered bringing you here during the day but I figured it’d be better now.”

With the lanterns of their phones, they made their way through the vegetation until they reached a clearing. And in the middle of that clearing was a small, wooden shrine.

“Oooooh, right,” Reiko remembered. “This is what you were working on!”

“Finished it last week. Took me a while.”

Looking vaguely like a house, Leo rebuilt the makeshift shrine he had made. Now on a foundation of stones, though still using mostly wood but looking far better, especially with those black tiles on the roof.

“You built that?” Angela asked.

“I made a promise,” Leo nodded, approaching the shrine. Mrs. Wisler approached with him and the two opened the box, bring out a serving of rice, some simple side dishes and a full bottle of sake as an offering.

“You all know the story well, right?” Mrs. Wisler asked. “Ragaraja, the deity that bestowed upon our clan our Gifts and cursed us with the inability to feel pleasure was offended by our attempt to take it back. He forced upon us a trial in which he set a time limit on our attempt to cleanse the curse. Fearing further intervention, Leonardo and I successfully contacted another deity for help, Aizen Myo. While unable to rescind her brother’s trial, She has advised us and shown us her support. For us to not show our gratitude during the relevant festivities would be unacceptable.”

“That it would,” Seina agreed. “You didn’t need to keep it a secret, though. We would’ve come regardless.”

“I just wanted it to be a surprise,” Leo smiled sheepishly.

“Not familiar with these traditions,” Valerie said. “What are we supposed to do?”

“Stand in front of the shrine and offer up a silent prayer as thanks,” Kaede told her. “That should be enough.”

They all took turns praying, with not a one objecting to it. Would be hard to do, when the existence of these deities was so tangible. For once, Leo wasn’t carrying the Book of Eros with him, so if Aizen Myo had anything to say about their offerings and prayers, he didn’t know.

He was the last to offer his prayers, and with nothing else to do there, the group made their way back to the road. And as they were stepping out, the sky lit up in blue with the sound of an explosion.

“The fireworks!” Kaede exclaimed, running over to the guardrails and looking up to the sky. Explosions of red, orange, green and purple followed in the shape of flowers.

“Aah,” Lucia exclaimed, then laughed. “THIS was the reason you kept it a secret, wasn’t it? We have a far better view from up here than from down at the temple.”

“Made you forget all about them, right?” Leo chuckled.

They grouped up close to the guardrail and enjoyed the show in comfortable silence, save for a few excited ‘oohs’ and ‘aaahs’. Without calling attention to it nor saying a word, Kaede took his hand in hers, interlocking fingers as they looked up at the lit sky. Seina was more obvious, also taking his hand and leaning her head on his shoulder.

“Not much left of summer vacation,” Valerie said.

“Just a bit over a week more,” Reiko said. “First time I’ve had so much fun during vacation.”

“Same for me,” Kaede said.

“Not entirely looking forward to going back to school,” Leo said. “I hope people won’t spread false and nasty rumors about us.”

“Oh, I don’t think that will be a problem, dear,” Mrs. Wisler said. “Did you know that the Tensai Clan has a history of polygamy?”

That made all their heads turn to the old lady.

“Wait, seriously?” Angela asked.

“Not at all,” the old lady chuckled. “But it won’t be difficult to convince the people it’s true. Just carry yourselves like there’s nothing odd about what you’re doing, have confidence in you actions and decisions, and the people around you will quickly come to accept it as normal. Of course, I’ll be doing my part as well.

“You know… If someone came to me last year and told me the Tensai Clan practiced polygamy, I’d believe it,” Reiko said.

“We don’t need to reveal the nature of our Gifts for people to know there’s something weird about us,” Lucia said. “Mother’s mind-reading powers and Leo’s endless stamina are already common topics of conversation.”

“Angela’s already famous for beating the island’s biggest thugs the moment she arrived, too,” Reiko giggled. “And people have been talking about Valerie and Kaede since they saw them dominating a soccer match and acing the midterms respectively.”

“And in a small town like ours, word gets around quickly,” Mrs. Wisler said. “So don’t be afraid of the whispering behind your backs. They will stop sooner than you think.”

Leo sincerely hoped so. He wanted a quiet life, surrounded by the girls he loved. He didn’t want people to recent them for the way they chose to live. He supposed that was but one of the challenges they were to overcome.