At this moment, Aiden pulled out another gift box from his other pocket and shook it in his hand, "Originally, I was planning to give you a surprise during dinner, but since you're in such a hurry, I can only give it to you now."
"Hmph, I don't want it, I was just talking casually just now." The girl crossed her arms in a tsundere manner and turned her head to the side, but the corner of her eye still kept sneaking glances at the box in Aiden's hand.
"If you don't want it then I'll just throw it away, it's not worth much anyway." Aiden placed the box on the stone table. "You deal with it yourself!"
After saying that, Aiden left the pavilion with complicated feelings, muttering under his breath, "My clothes were actually washed by Chizuru… shouldn't that be the maid's job? Didn't expect she actually had such a virtuous side."
His voice wasn't loud, but both Kagura sisters heard it.
"No matter how much you praise me I won't accept it." Even though Chizuru said so, she still quickly snatched the box from the table into her hand.
"This gift is what I deserve."
Only when Aiden had walked far away, with even his figure no longer visible, did Chizuru sit back down, placing the box tightly clutched in her hands onto the table.
Although the gift box looked exquisite, it wasn't large, only a bit bigger than an adult's palm, and just slightly thicker.
"Open it and see."
This time Maki didn't scold her sister, didn't say anything like how can you actively ask someone for a gift? In fact, when she had heard her sister say those things just now, she only felt guilty.
Clearly she was the one who had been choosing a husband for her sister, clearly she wanted to treat him as her brother-in-law, yet in the end…
All the benefits were taken by herself.
Chizuru didn't think that far. She impatiently opened the box, and seeing that inside was a rather finely made silver necklace, she couldn't help but curl her lips.
"What, it looks so ordinary. Only this crystal pendant looks decent."
Even though her mouth was full of disdain and her face wore nothing but dislike, the surprise in the girl's eyes couldn't be hidden.
Because the crystal pendant on the necklace turned out to be in the shape of a white crane.
People here are also very particular about symbolism.
"At least he was thoughtful."
Her face still carried a disdainful expression, but Chizuru still hung the necklace around her snow-white neck.
The crystal white crane pendant naturally rested quietly upon her round softness, and when she turned to look at her sister, the crystal white crane slipped into a deep valley… She had changed into a low-cut komon kimono as soon as she returned.
"Big sister, does it look good?"
"You should ask Aiden. No matter what clothes or accessories you wear, I'll always say they look good."
Maki carefully studied her, nodded slightly, and as she moved, the crystal pendant on her own earrings swayed lightly, catching the sunlight shining into the pavilion, dazzling in Chizuru's eyes.
"I'm not going to find him, it's not like he won't come for dinner tonight." Chizuru huffed, then continued, "But speaking of which, Big sister, what food do you want for dinner tonight? Hotpot? Or stir-fry?"
'Are you really asking me? You only say this when he's not here. And besides, isn't it usually whatever you make, I just eat?'
Thinking this, Maki sipped her tea lightly, ready to reply, but Chizuru went on by herself, "Forget it, let's eat hotpot."
"Last time Aiden… that guy said he wanted to eat it. Aiya, for the sake of this necklace, I'll make it for him once. Mhm, decided, I'll make a combination of the food you both like…"
Muttering on and on, Chizuru seemed to forget her Big sister was still there, and as she spoke, she walked toward the parking lot.
Watching her sister's gradually departing figure, Maki's expression grew complicated.
'Looks like Chizuru also has feelings for Aiden… but…'
'It hurts so much inside!'
'But… I'm the older sister!'
'How can an older sister compete with her younger sister?'
———
Back in his bedroom, Aiden had been watching TV for more than two hours when a knock sounded at the door and the maid's voice came calling him to dinner.
Glancing at the time on the TV, it was just past six. But thinking about how he came back earlier today, and since the Kagura sisters hadn't gone to the company, having dinner early wasn't strange.
"I'm coming, Miss Yumiko."
Answering her, Aiden reluctantly turned off the TV. Japanese movies from the 80s and 90s were still really well made, much better than their variety shows.
After tidying his clothes a little, Aiden came out of the bedroom and walked with maid Yumiko toward the dining room.
When they reached the dining room entrance, the maid opened the sliding door for him, but she herself didn't enter. After Aiden went inside, she closed the door behind him.
"Whoa, tonight's dinner is so rich!"
As soon as he entered the dining room, Aiden noticed the dishes on the table were different from usual.
More than ten plates of stir-fries, tempura, and sashimi crowded the already small low table. And in the very center of the table sat a steaming hotpot.
The Kagura sisters were already kneeling by the table. When they saw Aiden come in, Chizuru, surprisingly, didn't wait for her sister to speak. Instead, she stood up on her own and picked up a bottle of sake from the table.
"Hey, what are you standing there for? Hurry up and sit down, otherwise how can I pour you wine?"
Seeing Aiden frozen at the door with a look of surprise in his eyes, Chizuru urged him repeatedly. But anyone could see the pride on her face. After all, these dishes had taken her more than two hours to make.
"Today's just the weekend, isn't it? Even if it were a holiday, that's still a few days away. Why so lavish?"
Aiden asked knowingly, though in his heart he was thinking, the effect of the gift really was pretty good. 'Even such a tsundere girl had become… considerate. Though her attitude still seems the same as before.'
Speaking as he walked, he sat down across from Maki. And just like last time, Chizuru kneeled by his side and poured him a cup of wine.
Then Chizuru muttered softly, "You jerk, pretending not to know."
The little girl was only tsundere, not stupid.
Then she stood back up, returned to her sister's side, and after pouring her sister wine, poured herself a cup as well.
"Aiden, Chizuru and I both really like the gifts you gave. So to thank you, Chizuru specially made all these dishes." Maki raised her cup slightly toward Aiden, smiling lightly as she said, "Aiden, please!"
"Aiya, just a little token of thought, and it's not anything particularly valuable." After drinking the wine, Aiden actually felt a little embarrassed.
At first, he had thought about buying gold jewelry or pieces with big diamonds, but first of all, with the Kagura sisters' wealth, they lacked nothing of the sort.
Secondly, gold jewelry and things like that were too flashy, not matching the faintly sacred aura the sisters gave off.
When the sisters sat quietly, they really were as holy as angels… not the kind from Bayonetta.
"But Aiden's gifts were very thoughtful! That's much better than those expensive pieces of jewelry." Maki shook her head.
"And besides, we don't lack those things. So what you gave us, we actually like even more. Especially Chizuru."
As she said this, Maki pointed to her younger sister's chest.
When Aiden followed the direction of her finger, what he saw was a silver necklace hanging on her white neck. As for the pendant on the necklace… all he could see was the valley.
The tiny crystal pendant was no match for the great mountains.
Even though Aiden only gave a quick glance, not lingering long, Chizuru still felt his gaze sweep across her chest.
No matter how tsundere a girl was, she'd still be shy. Her face flushed red in an instant, and even the skin showing on her chest turned rosy.
"You… where are you looking?!"
The tsundere girl quickly pulled at the collar of her clothes, but the komon kimono she wore already had little fabric on the upper half, it couldn't hide anything.
On the contrary, her action of tightening the collar only made her softest parts squeeze together more.
As a result, Aiden's eyes, which had just been pulled away, were drawn back again.
"Aiden!"
Seeing Aiden's gaze fall once again on her younger sister's chest, Maki couldn't bear it anymore. Her cold voice carried a hint of complaint and dissatisfaction.
"Cough cough, couldn't help it, couldn't help it." Aiden coughed twice, quickly averting his eyes.
But the dining room wasn't big, and his eyes had nowhere to rest. After sweeping around once, they finally landed on Maki's face.
The conservatively dressed shrine maiden, with her neckline tightly covered, revealed nothing of her skin except her delicate face.
But being looked at like this by Aiden, Maki's face also reddened. Other than when she reached for food, her hands that normally rested neatly in front of her stomach were now tightly clasped together.
Nervousness made her ten fingers fidget restlessly, even tugging lightly at the hem of her clothes.
Along with the unease and shyness, what she thought in her heart was, 'My figure is actually about the same as Chizuru's, but the shrine maiden clothes are too loose… he won't be disappointed, will he?'
Then suddenly her expression froze.
'No, no, how can I think like that? I'm a shrine maiden, how can I have such thoughts? Am I going to become a sullied maiden instead?'
As she panicked and struggled inside, Aiden noticed her shifting expression and reddening face, and couldn't help but curiously ask, "Maki, what's wrong with you?"
"I didn't become… ah, no, nothing, I… I was just thinking about what to eat." The shrine maiden nearly blurted out her inner thoughts.
Blushing to the point of dripping blood, she quickly picked up her chopsticks, wanting to eat something to calm herself. But when her chopsticks reached midair, she didn't know what she wanted to eat.
In the end, she picked some wagyu beef from the hotpot, lowered her head, and quietly ate.
At this moment, she didn't dare lift her head to look at Aiden, afraid that if she looked a few more times, strange thoughts would come again.
She felt like she was breaking.
"What on earth is wrong with you?" Seeing Maki like this, Aiden only grew more curious. But even when he asked, she only kept her head down without answering.
'What did I do to upset her?'
Aiden couldn't figure it out, and could only sigh to himself that his understanding of women was still far too shallow.
And just as the two of them were lost in their own thoughts, Chizuru finally managed to calm down from her earlier shyness. But realizing Aiden's gaze was no longer on her, the tsundere girl actually felt a little unhappy.
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T/N: As you all already know my 2nd Account(Ambitious_Guy) is susp*nded, due to obvious reasons. But, the novels in it are still on the platform. Due to which I can't repost them on my new account(Ambi_Guy). Because everytime I try, the book just gets blocked because of 'Spamming'. So, those novels will now be exclusively available on ScribdleHub. For more details and novels please check announcement on Discord (discord.gg/bYAfGyp98y).
Another thing, from now I will post my new novels via 2nd Account(Ambitious_Guy_2) that used to be my 2nd Patreon(ZenonTL). It has some good fanfics and novels, you can try.
I am afraid of getting another block or susp*nsion so I am not saying more and censoring any trigger words.
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