Tsunagari

Chapter XLII.

The boys and I reached the shrine by dusk. The decline of sunlight marked the beginning of the funfair. And already there was crowd.

Never before had I seen so many people, so much animation at the shrine. The whole place was illuminated with traditional lanterns, and there were stalls everywhere. The whole place was buzzing!

'Hime!' I heard Katsura-san call out to me, and turning around onto myself, I searched for her with the eyes until I caught sight of her where she was standing by the Shamusho a distance away, waving at us.

The boys and I ran to meet up with her instantly.

'I'm sorry. We got late!' I apologized.

'It's alright,' she said, with a pleasant smile, and looking at Shunsui, then, she told him, cheerily, 'Ah, you must be Shunsui Shigeizumi. Hime has told me a lot about you!'

'Eh? I wonder what she has told you,' the reddish-brown-haired murmured, looking at me with narrowed eyes, and reaching out for my cheeks, he pulled at them, muttering at me, 'I'm sure that you told her that I treat you like a slave! Am I wrong?!'

'Ah! Ah! Shunsui, it hurts!' I whimpered.

My cheeks were stinging!

I rubbed them with my hands, sniffling a little, when he finally decided to let go of me.

Katsura-san giggled.

'Not at all. Your mother has told me a lot about you too!'

'My mother?!'

All three of us were surprised. Tsubasa-sama is here?!

Just at that moment, the blonde woman came out of the Shamusho, and the instant her eyes fell onto Shunsui, she jumped at him to rub her cheek against his, exclaiming, ecstatically, 'Ah, Katsura! I see that you've finally been able to meet my son! Isn't he a cute lad?!'

That's right! I had forgotten that Tsubasa-sama has offered us her help!

I smiled.

'Stop that! There are people around! It's so embarrassing!' Shunsui shouted at the blond woman, as he desperately tried to push her face away.

'What are you saying, you little devil?!' she demanded, as she released him, and putting her forefinger up at him and closing her eyes, she asserted, in a solemn tone, 'No expression of love from a mother can be viewed as embarrassing for his children!'

'I totally agree!' Katsura-san declared, with as much a solemn nod.

While I was a bit surprised by the two women's complicity, Shunsui's mouth hung open at them in disbelief.

'And who said that?!' he demanded.

'I said it, and therefore it has to be true!' Tsubasa-sama affirmed, and the reddish-brown-haired young man's mouth went further agape.

I chuckled. It is so nice to see them like this! There is so much love between them!

'Ne, ne, Hime,' Katsura-san said to me, then, 'How do you like the organization? Isn't it good? I have to admit that Tsubasa has helped me a lot! Without her help, I wouldn't have been able to do so much!'

'Now, you're embarrassing me!' the blonde woman told her, scratching her cheek and blushing in embarrassment. 'I didn't do anything special! At the beginning, it was your plan and that of Hime!'

I gazed at the two women again, another smile coming to my lips. They seem to have become great friends!

'Everything looks perfect!' Katsura-san stated, with a joyous look, her eyes traveling around the crowd of people on the premises of the shrine. 'All that is left now is for the Kagura dance to make the funfair a total success!'