" "- Dialogue
( )- Thoughts
~ - Inflection
[ ]- Action
Breakfast, while starting out tense, has ended up being a surprisingly peaceful affair. As everyone got a taste of the landlady's wonderful home cooking, the tension melted away. While filled with mostly pleasant small talk, Minato does get a decent idea of who he'll be housemates with from Uzume and Miya. Specifically the twins and a guy by the name of Kagari.
(So this Kagari guy is probably just another normal dude like me, save all the alien honeys throwing themselves at me.) Minato's ire shifts to the twins. (And they showed up after we did. But why? That's rather late to finally retire for the night. Did they not think of finding shelter? Or did the reaction drive them here?)
Before Minato can dive any deeper into this rabbit hole, he notices that he's accidentally locked eyes with Hibiki. Only for a second, but just long enough to warrant a smile from Hibiki. Minato smiles back before diving into his rice in an ill attempt at hiding from any more awkward moments.
Uzume's chipper tone cuts through the relative silence that had temporarily fallen over the meal. "So Minato-kun, when are you gonna wing us? I'm all good to hook up whenever you like, but sooner is always better than later!"
Speak of the devil and he shall appear. Minato's penchant for awkward situations is truly demonic.
As is the presence that appears over the landlady's left shoulder, not that Minato notices. No Minato is too busy blushing and sputtering to himself to catch the chilling sight that has shocked the rest of the room silent.
"Ara ara, it seems that Uzume-san has already forgotten what I said about inappropriate sexual behavior inside of Izumo Inn." This kind smile and tone is juxtaposed by a terrifying hanya that sends a collective chill down the spine of everyone at the table save Miya and Minato.
"Uhh no not at all! No inappropriate behavior around here! I'm just gonna put away these dirty dishes of mine and get back to my room for a nap." As Uzume starts to sit up and clean up her plate Minato perks up, hearing something about putting away the dishes.
"Oh are we cleaning up? Let me help." Minato quickly gathers up his sekirei's finished plates along with his own.
The hanya now faded, Miya stands up and with a more serene smile addresses Minato. "Oh Sahashi-san, you don't have to do that. I will take care of the dishes."
However, to the surprise of the room, Minato refuses. "Please, I insist on at least helping. I don't have anything better to do and I'd rather help out around the house than laze about." With his usual boyish charm smile turned all the way up, Minato seems to both get his way and reinvigorate Uzume and the twins' reactions.
Uzume seems to be the least affected outwardly, but on the inside it's a different story. (Minato-kunnn! My ashikabi is either a genius deviant who knows just how to get his way. HOT! Or the cutest walking coincidence to ever grace the Earth... I CAN'T TELL WHICH IS BETTER!)
The twins are a blushing mess, while Kazehana and Taki seem to be enjoying both Minato and his affect on the unwinged sekirei.
"Ahh! Minato-kun is so cute! The perfect house husband as always!" Kazehana gushes while covering her blushing cheeks with her hands.
Taki chimes in, "I see Minato-kun is trying to win the room already. Please Minato-kun, pace yourself! You haven't even been with me a full day yet and you're already trying to cheat!...Mmm my ashikabi is already leaving me for other women, I'm the lowest sekirei in his flock!" Taki whispers the last part to herself as she wraps her arms around her torso and squirms a bit, enjoying the warm tingle going down her spine.
Meanwhile Minato is feeling a cold tingle go down his spine as he assumes the worst from Taki's antics. (Yep, just like Darkness she's a complete masochistic weirdo.)
Meanwhile, Miya is as surprised as anyone, seeing her hanya not even affect Minato at all. But she's much better at concealing it.
"Ara, Sahashi-san insists on helping me with the dishes. I guess I'll accept your assistance, but I'll be helping." With that, Miya starts to gather the plates around the table.
As she starts to clean up, everyone seems to calm down and leave. As they get up and disperse, Minato pulls Kazehana to the side for a second.
Grabbing her lightly by the arm, he takes her to the corner of the room. "While I'm helping Miya, could you talk to Uzume and the twins? Try and get to know them and have a proper introduction instead of the awkward one we had earlier." Minato whispers into Kazehana's ear.
Looking into Minato's eyes and flashing her usual calm smile Kazehana replies. "Of course, and I'll get the lay of the land on MBI while I'm at it." Minato smiles and gives Kazehana a peck on the cheek, causing her to blush slightly.
"Thanks Kazehana-chan!" With that Minato is off. He walks over to the table briskly, and starts to gather up the rest of the dirty utensils onto a plate. As Kazehana heads into the hallway to catch Uzume, Minato carries the plate over to the sink where Miya is currently hand washing a serving dish.
As Minato sets the plate down and starts to rinse it off, Miya looks up with her usual genteel smile. What she says, however, is anything but expected.
"Not even a full 24 hours in my Inn and you're already trying to indoctrinate those poor girls into your harem. How disgusting. I truely thought better of you Sahashi-san, but I see now that I was gravely mistaken." She says it in such a disappointed tone that, for a second, Minato believes her and starts to question himself.
Minato's shocked form stops scrubbing immediately and stands there, gawking at the plate he was washing.
(Have I really been trying to string along those girls? Have I subconsciously tried to enslave them to my own will? How will I be punished for such a terrible thing? What would Yukari or Oba-sama say if they saw this?)
As all of these questions rattle through Minato's mind, he attempts to rebut Miya. "L-L-Landlady-sama, I would n-never do such a t-t-t-thing. It w-w-w-w-would be u-unthinkable with my u-u-u-upbringing."
When he finally looks up and to his left, Minato takes in the sight of Miya stifling a giggle with the drying cloth.
"Fufufu, my apologies Sahashi-san, Fufufufufu, but I couldn't resist a little a tease fufufufu. How you've survived this long with Kazehana is truly miraculous! Fufufu!" As Miya giggles cutley to herself, Minato slumps over the sink.
"[Heavy Sigh] You were so convincing I started second guessing myself and thinking that I'd done something terrible. Oh Landlady-sama, please don't scare me like that again. I respect you so much that it felt like I was Prometheus and you were the eagle!" If Miya's words had actual weight like they did in Minato's mind, she had just put the Arc de Triomphe on his back and then lifted it right before it completely crushed him.
"Fufu, all jokes aside Sahashi-san. As long as they are reacting to you and you don't break any rules of the house, you are free to wing them. And one other thing!" Miya's face switches from her sweet smile to a cute pout. "Please stop calling me 'landlady-sama' it's so stuffy. I'm in the prime of my life you know! So call me by my name!" This only mesmerizes Minato however.
(So cute... So cute. So cute. How is she so naturally cute? I mean, I could just...Wait...WAIT MINATO WHAT ARE YOU THINKING!!! You already have 5 alien girls to take care of. Do you really think it would be fair to pull the landlady into such a messy relationship!?) As Minato's inner debate heats up, so does his cheek. But with pain.
To get Minato's attention, Miya starts to pinch his cheek. Being steered by the pain, Minato looks over at Miya who is smiling sweetly. "Sahashi-san. I'm asking a favor of you, it's improper to just ignore me and opt to stare vacantly." She chastises in kind and motherly manner...or possibly wifely.
"My apologies, I just got caught up in thought. I'll gladly refer to you in a more normal way Asama-san." Minato says with a smile as he turns back to the dishes.
"Thank you." Miya says in an exasperated tone. In her mind, however, it isn't Minato's bad manners that is bothering her.
(How did he not even notice the hanya?! First it barely affected him, but now he can't even notice it? What is happening?) As Minato starts to scrub again, the hanya that had been hanging over his shoulder this entire time starts to disappear.
Somewhere in the void, Takehito laughs heartily, "Now that's what I call a parting gift!"
In Minato's Room
Sitting on the left side of the bed cross legged is Kazehana. Behind her, Taki is lounging across the right side of the bed. In front of her, Uzume is sitting on the dresser while inspecting one of the framed pictures. The twins are leaning against the wall, Hikari has her arms crossed under her bust while Hibiki is more relaxed with her hands resting intertwined against her stomach.
With an excited smile, Kazehana raises her right arm in the air and calls the rooms attention. "Let the first ever meeting of Minato-kun's flock commence!" Her almost victorious tone is lost on the unwinged as they seem more bothered than intrigued... or rather hot and bothered.
Each of the unwinged sekirei seem to be reacting strongly to Minato. The heavy blush and fidgeting easily choreographing their desire to be somewhere else with their ashikabi.
With a more sympathetic smile Kazehana says, "You girls can wing yourselves to Minato-kun once he's done with Miya down stairs. In the mean time, he thought it would be good for us to get to know each other since we're all going to be his sekirei." This grabs the attention of the unwinged as they look to have reached an epiphany.
Hikari is the first to respond.
"You know we're all sekirei who are reacting to Minato, but we don't really know you now do we? I had a weird feeling when I first saw you, and now you say you're a sekirei. But the thing is, we were all released as a part of the first wave of sekirei. And I don't remember you!" Hikari nearly barks in a perturbed tone as she eyes Kazehana suspiciously. She then pauses. Before closing her eyes and sighing, some of the tension escaping her body along with it. When she looks back up, her tone is a lot more diplomatic as a more neutral look takes place of the earlier suspicion.
"[Sigh] Why don't we just properly introduce ourselves this time. I'm Number 11 Hikari, and Hibiki's Number 12." She says as she thumbs towards her calmer half. Hibiki knods towards Kazehana while her sister continues.
"Uzume's 10 and Taki's 65, but you weren't released with us. We don't know you or your number. All we know is that you're one of us...So who are you?" Hikari seems to have calmed down as she pops the question.
"Well I'm glad you have enough mental fortitude to be able to curb some of the raw emotion that comes with the reaction. It can be hard to shake off in the case of weaker sekirei. Now onto business. I am Number 3 Kazehana, Minato-kun's first sekirei, and I'd like to get to know each of you a little better since we're going to be sister wives soon enough." And with that, the air has left part of the room.
While Taki silently observes with a cool smile on her face, enjoying the flip side of this spectacle from a winged perspective, Hibiki decides to speak up.
"Y-You're really one of the three? You're the Wind Sekirei who left MBI after being rejected by your ashikabi?" Hibiki seems to be awestruck as she looks at Kazehana from a new lense.
"Mouuu, why do you keep reminding me?! First Taki-chan, and now you too! I've found the perfect man now and he's my ashikabi, if anything the rejection proves that my real ashikabi was still out there all along!" Kazehana is in full pout mode as she puffes her cheeks and flails her arms about in a fake tantrum.
With a bit of an awkward smile and sweat drop Hibiki continues. "My apologies I didn't mean to bring back any bad experiences from what I said. It's just a little crazy to meet one of the single digits who left MBI." Hibiki then shifts to a more a pondering tone. "Anyways, you might be right about fate leading you to your actual ashikabi despite your reaction at the time. It would explain my sister and I's experience last night."
Hikari seems to tense up again as Hibiki mentions this, "Do you have to bring it up sis?"
Hibiki looks to her right and locks eyes with Hikari. Putting her right hand on Hikari's left shoulder. "I'm sorry, if you don't want to talk about it we don't have to."
Hikari looks her sister in the eyes for a moment. After long silence she gains a determined look and turns to Kazehana.
"I'll talk about it. I need to talk about it, but not until Minato comes back. I want him to hear this too." As Hikari finishes, the group starts to hear heavy footsteps climbing up the stairs.
Kazehana looks at Hikari with a warm smile, "Looks like fate was listening, eh Hikari-chan?"
All of the unwinged sekirei start to blush even harder as their ashikabi approaches the door. When Minato pulls it open and sees the little meeting that's taking place, he pauses.
"...Am I interrupting?" He asks hesitantly.
Kazehana leans back on the bed with both of her hands behind her to prop her up as she turns to address Minato.
"Not at all. In fact you're right on time." With that Minato steps into the room and closes the door behind him. As he walks around the bed to where Kazehana is, Minato notices Hibiki, Hikari, and Uzume's reactions. As he steps over to the empty space beside Kazehana he asks, "Do you really want me as your ashikabi?"
The way he asks this is so innocent, and he sounded so concerned that he has, without intention, opened the flood gates. Or rather broke the dam. And like any great or terrible moment, there's a moment of silence for Minato to realize what he has done; the calm before the storm. As he watches the eyes of the unwinged change, and the light go off in their heads, all Minato can do is laugh awkwardly and brace for impact.
Seeing what's about to happen Kazehana giggles to herself, while Taki kicks it all off with a single comment.
"Minato-kun you tease!" Taki says scandalously before breaking out into a snicker.
Minato blinks. One second there's three hungry looking sekirei, the next second darkness, and in that same second Minato can feel himself get tackled to the bed.
All three sekirei charge at once, Hikari leading seeing as she is the closest to Minato. She crashes into him and captures his lips as they fall to the bed, her arms wrap around him as they fall, with Hibiki and Uzume just behind her. Or rather on top of her. But Hikari doesn't really notice this, all she can feel is the heat of her reaction build up between her shoulder blades before exploding out of her back. After that, Hibiki pulls her sister back to wing herself as well.
As Hikari baskes in the warmth that is crawling across her body like a comforter, she lookes back at her wings. Prussian blue made of a rough current of electricity. Looking back to her sister who has been rolled off of Minato by Uzume, Hikari sees the same wings with a lighter hue; voodoo blue. As Uzume's own linen white wings emerge from her back, Kazehana stops giggling and speaks up.
"Well, I can't say I expected it to go that fast. Congratulations either way!"
For Minato, when he opened his eyes during the winging, he saw the same thing three times. Each time, whether it was Hikari, Uzume, or Hibiki, Minato's view was eyes squeezed shut that calmed as each kiss lasted. By the time one would be pulled off, they seemed to be in bliss.
As Uzume slides to Minato's left, he sees all three of the sekirei with their wings out. Laying down on his left, Uzume's linen white wings, or rather her left wing, blocks his view of Kazehana. Sitting up in his lap, Minato can see a blushing Hikari with dark blue wings. Where Uzume's where smooth, looking almost like silk, Hikari's wings look like a bunch of lightsabers. Finally, looking to his right, Minato takes in the sight of Hibiki. Her voodoo blue wings matching her sister's in shape and look. And as their wings start to dissipate, each of them say the prayer that Kazehana had told him about.
""We're the pledged thunderclap. No disaster will hit our Ashikabi.""
"By the veil of my contract, my Ashikabi's nightmares will be dispelled."
Minato smiles tiredly, "I will take care of all of you, I promise." He then spontaneously sits up and hugs Hikari before whispering, "I promise."
Hikari starts to quiver as tears creep down her cheeks, before burying her head into the left crook of Minato's neck. Light sobs can be heard. As Minato's grip around Hikari tightens, Kazehana can feel her heart ache.
(You can save us Minato, you can save her just like you did me. Just like you will so many more.)
While Minato doesn't know why he said that all of a sudden, he completely believes what he said.
Downstairs, Miya is sitting down at the dining table sipping tea. In front of her is a yellow duck. Putting down her tea, Miya looks at the ceiling. "I hope you can follow through with that promise, once you know what all it entails Sahashi-san."
Izumo Inn 10 hours later
After a good 20 minutes of crying, Hikari explained what happened to Minato and the flock. Once it was all said and done, Minato vowed to protect his sekirei a second time, and was subsequently mobbed by the flock.
The rest of the morning and afternoon were pretty much story time as Minato went over how he and Kazehana met. Kazehana threw in a few stories of her own. All of them ending with Minato blushing heavily and telling everyone that Kazehana was exaggerating, while said wind sekirei gushed about how loving and cute Minato was. This was followed up by a few stories from Taki, Uzume, and the Twins about growing up in MBI and how they were released.
As everyone finally decided to get up and check up on Miya for lunch, Minato noticed the time on his phone.
"IT'S ALMOST 6:30! We were talking for so long we lost track of time and missed lunch!" Minato practically yelped in surprise.
As if on que, Miya opened the door to the room and spoke in a kind but somewhat chilling manner. "Think of it as punishment for speaking of such indecent acts while inside Izumo Inn." Minato couldn't tell what surprised him more, the fact that the landlady had heard Kazehana earlier all the way from the downstairs or the fact that all of his sekirei have jumped onto the bed and are currently cowering behind his back.
"My apologies landlad...I mean Asama-san. I will make sure that Kazehana adheres to the rules of the house from now on. I apologize." Minato says with a bow.
"Mou, hubby-kun! You can't let her just starve us all because she didn't like what she heard me say while she was eavesdropping!" Kazehana pouts while still hiding behind Minato.
"I have never dropped eaves in my life Kazehana-san, it is deeply troubling to hear you claim that a young maiden such as I would do such an indecent thing." Miya's voice is particularly sweet as she says this, behind her a hanya that Minato can't see grows to take up the entire door frame while she rebuts.
Shifting her attention back to Minato, Miya continues. "Sahashi-san, while I respect you taking responsibility for your sekirei's actions, I'd prefer it if you would take precautions to make sure this never happens again. You wouldn't want Kazehana-san to miss dinner too now do you?" Miya practically scolds as she stares down Minato.
For his part, Minato keeps relatively calm. Despite the threatening tone and thousand meter stare he is receiving Minato responds. "I-I will make sure to talk to Kazehana a-after t-t-this. I-I-I-I-I-I'm so sorry for letting this h-happen, please forgive Kazehana if you c-c-can find i-it in your heart." Minato seems to break down the further he speaks, his words somewhat muffled as he bows into the sheets in an almost groveling fashion.
Miya, sensing that she might break Minato if she pushes any further, lets up. Walking to the foot of the bed she reaches over and touches his shoulder. When Minato looks up, he is greated by a calm smile.
"I do not mean to intimate you Sahashi-san. I just want you to understand that if you let your flock do whatever they want, they'll run all over you. You need to get a better handle on them like you did this morning, although in a more diplomatic fashion. If you are to stay here, you will need to gain an understanding of this and of your sekirei." And like that, all of the tension and fear is dispelled. Replaced with food for thought by the domineering, yet kind landlady.
"Now with that being said, Kazehana's last comment has earned all of you no dinner for tonight!" Miya says in a kind, if somewhat teasing, tone.
Everyone falls off of the bed in exasperation.
"Thank you for your apology Sahashi-san, I hope to see you with a better grip on your flock in the morning." With a kind goodbye to juxtapose the rather stern confrontation of just a few moments prior, Miya leaves.
Taki is the first to respond as the walking tidal wave of intimidation retreats down the stairs with a pleasant hum. "How is she able to flip a switch and be so brutal?" She asks as she climbs back onto the bed.
Sitting up against the wall by the dresser Uzume responds with wry chuckle, "She doesn't have a switch that she flips, as much as she has a mask that she takes off. The mask of being a kind and pleasant landlady."
From her position of on top of Minato, smothering him with her breasts, Kazehana adds, "Ahh Miya's always been a bit of a bully, she's honestly a lot better now than she was once upon a time. I can tell from the way she was speaking to Minato-kun that she was speaking from the heart, so really we should congratulate Minato for winning Miya over: no one's ever gotten her to genuinely trust them this quickly!" Minato pushes Kazehana back a bit so that he can sit up himself.
"Don't be mean to Asama-san, she was just giving us some tough love. It'll help us in the long run to set some new rules to begin with, as well as going over the ground rules again anyway!" Minato says in a disciplinary tone as he grabs Kazehana by the ear and stands up, pulling her up with him.
"Owww Minato-kunnn! Save your punishments for Taki-chan not meeee!" Kazehana whines.
Taki chimes in, "Yeah! I wanna be punished too!"
With a facepalm and loud sigh, Minato turns to address his sekirei. "Let's talk about the new rules and punishments at dinner then." He also lets go of Kazehana's ear.
Hibiki asks, "How? We are barred from eating dinner by Miya-sama." She's stood in the back left corner of the room with Hikari.
Minato turns back toward the door and holds up a black MBI card. "She didn't say we couldn't go out and eat now did she?" He then walks over to the night stand to the left of his bed and pulls his phone from it's charger, before walking out and turning for the stairs.
All of his sekirei look at each other for a moment, before following him.
As they make their way downstairs Taki asks, "So where are we going?"
Minato replies, "There's this really good Filipino place in Southwest Toky- I mean Shinto Teito that I think will be a perfect place for us to celebrate our new family." And with that they are off.
As she sets the 3 plates down for dinner, Miya can hear Minato and the others from the dining room.
The silver haired young man that she is serving leans back and asks, "So are you just gonna let them bypass your rules, just on the back of you chewing them out for breaking said rules?"
Miya calmly replies, "There is no rule saying they cannot eat out now is there. Besides they deserve to have their first dinner together be an intimate affair. We'd only be in the way."
"So that's why you banned them from dinner. Man Miya-san, you sure are quite the mother aren't you." The young man says as he takes a sip of tea, only to nearly spit it out as a hanya mask appears above his plate of food.
"I think of myself as more of an older sister wouldn't you say Kagari-san?" Miya asks sweetly as she walks over to grab one last serving dish.
"OF COURSE!"
Elsewhere
Somewhere in a dark room, lit only by computer screens, a knockout redhead with coke bottle glasses and a peach colored cheongsam wakes up.
"Huh?" She looks at her monitors. "Argh! It's already dinner time! Miya-tan's scary hanya made me black out, and now I missed my chance to wing myself to Mina-tan!...Kekekeke, oh well, guess I'll just have to wait for his next bath to experiment." A sudden knock at her door scares the redhead.
"[Knock Knock Knock] Oy Matsu, Miya sent me to tell you it's dinner time, hurry up." Kagari says in a raised voice from behind the wall.
"Coming Homura-tan!"
All right. Not by best work, but I gotta just get this chapter done and outta the way so I can get back into things. Sorry for the late upload. The block, as well as Thanksgiving, have kept me busy. Don't worry though I think I'm through it now!I'll be back, on schedule this time, on the 10th. Two mondays from now. Thank you for your patience, and as always leave your thoughts, critiques, wishes, and best prime rib recipes in the reviews. I appreciate all of the feedback. Seeya!