Chapter 303: Seven Needles
Translator: Reflet
Editor: ryunakama
Thud! The woman was thrust away.
At that same time that she fell back, the woman put the back of her hand over her mouth, glaring at Taiyou. Granted, this was a reasonable reaction to curse him for the sudden assault.
Taiyou didn’t care about that, however, since he was the one who was angry.
“Hera.”
“Ta-ta-daaa! Hera-chan has arrived!”
“Eh?”
“Huh? What is the meaning of this, Taiyou-chan? Did you increase the number of brides again?”
“No. I want to ask something of you.”
“Yes indeed. If it is for your sake, Taiyou-chan, then I can go through fire, water, and even the physical reaaalm!”
“I’d like you to haunt that woman over there for a bit and whisper in her ear that she’s disgusting every time she does something.”
“Disgusting, you say?”
“Yeah, disgusting.”
“Rajaaa!”
Performing a light bow, Hera then began to hang around the woman.
“Wh-What the heck is this? What is this?”
“…Hmph.”
Snorting at her, Taiyou turned around.
This was around the time that the two men who had fallen into the sea were crawling their way back up, so he knocked them off once more.
He then returned to where the triplets were standing.
“Let’s get outta here. No point staying.”
“…”
He motioned to them, but all the three sisters did was stare at him without saying a word. Even once the men had climbed back up from the ocean and the woman had dashed away from Hera in an attempt to escape her, they still said nothing, simply staring at Taiyou.
“What’s wrong?”
“…”
“Kotone? Suzune? Kazane, you too?”
“…”
“You guys feeling alright?”
Taiyou grew worried at their lack of response. He thought that they might have suddenly felt under the weather, but that wasn’t the case. They furrowed their brows, staring at Taiyou with very displeased expressions. They weren’t under the weather; they were in a bad mood.
“S-Seriously, what’s wrong?”
He repeated what he had said earlier. This time around, he was overpowered by them, slightly stuttering.
“Don’t do that, Taiyou-san.”
“That kind of thing…”
“Isn’t something that you should be doing.”
“That kind of thing…?”
Taiyou wondered what they meant, but then noticed where they were looking, and he followed their gazes.
They were looking at the woman as she ran away. As he observed this, he suddenly remembered something.
“My bad.”
“””What do you mean?”””
The three of them softly asked Taiyou in response to his apology. This was a bit unusual. Normally, they would speak to Taiyou in a chorus, occasionally in louder voices when they were excited. But they had hardly ever responded to him so quietly like this. Taiyou felt a quiet, indescribable pressure build up inside him.
It was the kind of feeling when you got bad grades on a test and hid the paper but your mother found it. However, despite this pressure, he couldn’t just run away. Taiyou lowered his head once more, apologizing to them.
“My bad. It was dumb of me to kiss that kind of woman.”
That was the answer that Taiyou had arrived at. Normally, that would be reasonable, right? His brides were probably angry that he kissed another female in front of them. Which was why he apologized for that.
However, he was mistaken.
“That isn’t what we mean.”
“You may kiss anyone you’d like to, Taiyou-san.”
“But not like that.”
“Eh? Wh-What do you mean?”
“Taiyou-san, your kiss is an amazing thing.”
Kotone clasped her hands together at her chest, as if praying. Suzune and Kazane also nodded, affirming the eldest sister’s words.
“When you kiss us, it is such a blissful feeling.”
“It isn’t just because it makes us feel like we’re loved, but because it’s a kiss that shows us how serious you are.”
“So using your kiss in such a manner…For payback, isn’t suitable for you at all, Taiyou-san.”
“…”
Taiyou’s eyes became dots at their revelation. He had thought that they were angry at him for kissing another female in front of them, but it was only the way he did it that they were reprimanding him for. It was almost like…
“…So it’s okay for me to kiss other people like normal?”
“””Yes!”””
The three sisters said all at once. This time, their voices were back to their normal, cheerful selves.
“You didn’t forget, did you Taiyou-san?”
Kazane grinned impishly as she pointed her index finger.
“We’re girls who want to be part of a harem.”
“In fact, we want you to find some more good candidates.”
“But Taiyou-san, you already decided that you would go up to seven.”
“Well, I didn’t exactly decide that…”
Everything was a result of the reverse revision of ‘idol’, but he ended up not mentioning that. They already knew that very well, and he didn’t find it worth mentioning.
Ruminating over what they had said, he changed his thought process. In that case…he would suggest something.
“I get what you all are saying, but I couldn’t allow that woman to do what she did.”
Taiyou said, and the three sisters made complicated faces.
“That lady called you guys disgusting. Disgusting! Not ‘creepy’ like what the men said, but ‘disgusting’. Humans always get hung up over things people say. If she had just said ‘creepy’, then I would have overlooked their shallow attitude and done nothing, but calling you all ‘disgusting’ was uncalled for and I couldn’t take it. Get what I’m saying?”
“Yes…”
“We do.”
“We also…feel…”
“That’s why I decided to put that woman on the spot for a bit. I asked Hera to stick by her side and repeatedly call her disgusting to her ears. And in the process, the kiss would have given her the ability to see Hera, so everyone else would think she’s crazy from now on.”
He said as he imagined how far from grace that woman would fall. Hera couldn’t be seen by other humans. At least, not unless Taiyou had kissed them at some point. Nor could they chase her away. So in her case, she would be ridiculed as disgusting for everything she did by a fairy that was whispering into her ears that only she could see. Taiyou felt satisfied when he imagined that.
“But I still think that you shouldn’t use your kiss for something like that, Taiyou-san…”
This time, Suzune had spoken. She and the other sisters were all making painful, saddened faces. Unfortunately, he happened to be the cause. Taiyou felt pain course through his chest. He had just wanted to get some revenge, but if this was the outcome, then he should have been more thoughtful. Taiyou highly valued his objectives and the methods to reach them. It needn’t be said that his ultimate objective was to make them happy, always smiling. He had no choice but to admit that the objective this time around had been wrong.
So he bowed his head, this time fully comprehending what the issue was and apologizing to the three sisters.
“Sorry, I won’t do it again. I won’t ever use a kiss for such a negative objective again.”
“You really won’t?”
“Yeah, I promise.”
He said, extending his pinky for a pinky promise, but soon realized that one finger alone wouldn’t be enough, so he brought out his ring finger and middle finger in addition.
As he did this, he stared straight at the girls, full of intent. After they gazed at him for a bit, the three sisters entwined their fingers around his. Everyone had their pinky fingers out from their side. Kotone got his middle finger, Suzune his ring finger, and Kazane his pinky.
“””Finger cut-off, ten thousand fist-punchings, whoever lies has to swallow seven needles.”””
“Seven?”
To him, seven needles were far more fearsome and weighty than one thousand in terms of numbers.
“Yes. If you break it then you have to swallow seven needles.”
“We can prepare regular needles, but…”
“We don’t know which ones everyone else will prepare.”
“Wow, that’s scary. I can totally see Kohaku-san bringing something terrifying. Yep, got no choice but to keep that promise of mine.”
He joked, shrugging his shoulders.
Having reconciled with one another, they stood there for a bit, enjoying chatting and laughter