Yae and their youngest sister, Amagami Yuna, were equally stunned. The beach in front of them was the very cove they remembered from childhood.
What shocked them even more was thatthere were people here!
And not just anyone: a group of girls, each as beautiful as a painting.
Not far away, a silverhaired girl with eyes as blue as the sea was crouched on the sand, building a castle.
Beside her, a girl in a red bikini dashed excitedly toward the surf, the dragon tail behind her flinging up crystalclear spray.
Farther down the shore, several girls in different swimsuits lounged or sat chatting and laughing, sunlight gilding their figures with a golden halo.
Each girl was distinct in looks and demeanor, yet all radiated a stunning charm that left the shrineraised Amagami sisters gaping.
"So manyso many pretty big sisters!" Asahi whispered in awe, almost dropping the bamboo basket in her hands.
Yuna's eyes were round with wonder.
"What's going on? Why are there so many people? There was never anyone here before."
"Lookover there! A villa!"
"Waitdon't tell me this place has become someone's private estate?"
While the sisters were still at a loss, the salty afternoon breeze swept across the sand.
Their arrival was like stones cast into a still pond, sending ripples through the gazes of YukinoshitaYukino, YuigahamaYui, and the others watching them.
Yuna clutched Asahi's sleeve and hid behind Yae, the three pairs of eyes nervously taking in the overly gorgeous scene.
"Excuse mewho might you be?"
Yukino stepped forward and spoke first.
Behind her, YukinoshitaHaruno idly nibbled an ice pop, mischievous eyes roaming over the sisters' plain summer clothes.
Yui cradled a bucket of freshly dug clams, her smile as sweet as melting cream.
"Wewe just came to play on the beach," Yae said, gripping the brown amulet at her waist.
"Our mom used to bring us here, but today"
"So many people!" Asahi blurted, only to have Yuna clap a hand over her mouth. "Aand we didn't expect it to be this crowded."
Glancing nervously toward the villa, Yuna lowered her head.
"Has someone bought this place and made it private property? If so, we'll leave right away!"
Yukino frowned. Rei Ao had told her this beach was sealed off by magichow had three girls appeared out of nowhere?
She was about to press the issue when Rei Ao's amused voice echoed in her mind:
"Relax, Yukino. I let them in. They used to come here."
"Let them in?"
Instinctively she looked up at the villa's secondfloor window; the halfdrawn curtain revealed a shifting shadow behind it.
Recalling Rei Ao's everteasing, iridescent eyes, her tone cooled.
"Is that because this was originally their beachor because they're pretty?"
A low chuckle answered in her mind, warm and impossible to argue with: "What do you think?"
"Anyway, Mai and I are having fun. Take good care of our 'new guests.'"
Before the words faded, Yukino caught the suppressed, rapid breathing that was uniquely SakurajimaMai's.
Her cheeks flared crimson. She shot a glare at the villa and muttered "Shameless," then turned back to the sisters, composing herself.
"This isn't private propertyyou may stay."
"Really? But that villa just appeared out of nowhere," Yuna ventured.
"It's only temporary," Yukino said.
YuigahamaYui hurried to smooth things over. Ever the friendly one, she took Asahi's cool little hand.
"Since you've come to the beach, how about changing into swimsuits first? There's a dressing room inside."
Her enthusiasm left the three sisters unable to refuse.
When they followed Yukino into the villa, they were stunned by the opulence within.
The marble floor shone like a mirror; crystal chandeliers scattered rainbow halos; beautiful ornaments hung even at the far end of the corridor.
"This used to be nothing but rock outcrops," Yae murmured, fingertips brushing the cool wall.
After changing, they stepped outside again.
Yuna's pink bikini and Asahi's bunny onepiece instantly drew the attention of SakurajimaAi and the stylish Sayuri.
"Oh? A very nice look," Ai said, her sharp eyes spotting the trio's potential at a glance.
"Such adorable children~" Sayuri chirped, hopping over like an excited sparrow.
She tucked shell hairclips into Asahi's and Yuna's hair and handed Yae a mintlaced iced drink.
Surrounded by the women's gently restrained, almostsupernatural warmth, the sisters' tense shoulders gradually relaxed.
Meanwhile, on the villa's third floor, the panorama window reflected a scene that would make anyone blush.
SakurajimaMai trembled against the cold glass.
"Have you set your sights on those shrine maidens again?" she panted, hair clinging to her sweaty cheeks.
"When you spoke to Yukino just now, your tone was so"
Rei Ao nipped her earlobe, iridescent pupils darkening with pleasure.
"Not threefour."
"Four?" Mai blinked in confusion; only three newcomers were on the beach.
Rei Ao chuckled, sliding a hand over her delicate skin.
"Mai, now isn't the time for discussion.Focus. Right now I only want to savor you."
The salty sea breeze drifted in through the slightly open window, mingling with the warm atmosphere inside, dissolving Mai's unspoken questions.
Rei Ao gazed outside at the people frolicking in the sunset
and the sunlight pierced the barrier of reality to settle on a faint, halfhidden figure at the very edge of the beach.
~~~
200 Powerstone Bonus Chapter!
For Every 100 Powerstone = 1 Bonus Chapter! Please Vote for more Chapters!
Patreon(.)com/Bleam
Currently You can Read 220+ Chapters Ahead of Others!
Chapter 748: Amagami Chiharu
When the last glow of dusk stained the sea goldcrimson,
Rei Ao finally stopped savoring the lingering taste of delight.
He covered the sleeping Mai with a thin blanket, donned a bathrobe, and stepped onto the balcony.
The sea breeze whisked the dampness from his hair and carried a hint of coolness after their heat.
Mai's flavor was, as always, exquisite.
Yet another matter now required his attention.
Casting aside his aftertastes, he looked toward the other side of the balcony.
"Miss Amagami Chiharu."
Speaking into apparently empty air, the corners of his mouth lifted in playful amusement.
"Our little show must have been entertainingyou watched with such devotion."
At one end of the balcony stood a figure:
a woman in traditional miko robes, long black hair cascading like a waterfall, a finely carved fox mask on her face.
A faint mist veiled her formimperceptible to ordinary eyes.
Only Rei Ao could see her robe stirred by the sea breeze and the graceful curves faintly revealed beneath the mask.
Amagami Chiharu
foster mother of the three Amagami sisters,
and the current guardian deity of the Amagami Shrine.
Years ago she died defending the shrine; her soul, unable to depart, became a groundbound spirit, doomed to wander nearby.
The moment Rei Ao lifted today's ward, she sensed her daughters' auras and the power surging on this beach
and came, no doubt, to protect them.
The shadowed figure trembled; eyes behind the fox mask filled with wariness and disbelief.
"..."
Unable to speak, she could only convey emotion through ripples of spiritual power.
Yet Rei Ao seemed to understand and walked toward her, step by step.
"Don't hide."
His voice carried a strange penetrative force.
"I noticed you the moment you followed the sisters through the forest."
He stopped less than a meter away, close enough to feel her cool, unearthly aura.
"Why stay invisibleafraid you'll alarm your daughters?"
Amagami Chiharu instinctively retreated half a step, empty foxeyes staring at him.
As a deity she had long forsaken speech, existing only in spirit form to guard the shrine and the three sisters.
Rei Ao chuckled softly and raised his hand.
Before Chiharu could react he gently removed the fox mask.
The face beneath stole one's breath:
skin whiter than snow, brows fine as distant inked hills, amber eyes brimming with shock and helplessness, yet suffused with a god's loneliness and sorrow.
Time had left no trace upon her beauty; only solitude lingered at her brow.
"Such a lovely facesilent? What a pity."
His fingertips brushed her cool cheek, sensing her stiffness.
He tapped her brow; a gentle golden light seeped into her spirit body.
Amagami Chiharu's eyes flew wide. A strange power surged into her throat.
She opened her lipsand a voice clear as spring water spilled out.
"Yyou who are you?
How can you see melet me?"
"I'm Rei Ao."
Her astonishment deepened his smile.
The sea breeze lifted her long hair while she stared at the man whose bearing was anything but mortal.
For the first time she felt something like a fluttering heart.
Far down the beach the three Amagami sisters, drawn in by Yukino and the others, were laughing around a bonfire
unaware that their "mother" had fallen into an irresistible temptation.
The wind carried away the last warmth of dusk.
Golden flames leapt, stretching everyone's shadows long and short across the sand.
Rei Ao's fingertip toyed with a strand of Chiharu's black hair, feeling the faint, cool tremor of her spirit body.
Though she had regained speech she still held herself apart, amber eyes alert beneath the mask like a mother fox guarding her cubs.
"Stay away from my daughters."
Her voice was clear, yet faintly trembling.
She had witnessed Rei Ao and Mai's windowside entanglement
and heard him say he'd taken a fancy to her daughters.
Instinctively she now saw him as a danger to them,
even if that dazzling scene of intertwined bodies had stirred unfamiliar ripples within her.
Rei Ao laughed low. His palm slid from her cheek to her chin with irresistible gentleness.
"What I fancy has never been only themthere's you, too."
Iridescent pupils shimmered in the firelight, mirroring her shocked expression.
"Amagami Chiharu, did you think I broke your speechsealing curse merely to watch you wear a mask?"
Her body stiffened. She tried to step back, but Rei Ao lightly pressed her shoulder
heat from his palm seeping through miko robes into her spirit body, unsettling her calm.
"I'm no villain who snatches maidens," he said, withdrawing his hand, yet with utter certainty.
"Still, I'm quite curious: what does a shrine goddess taste like?"
Abruptly he pointed toward the three sisters roasting marshmallows at the bonfire.
"If you're so worried about your daughters, why not see them yourself?
You've guarded them for years yet can't speak a single word to them?"
""
Chiharu's eyes dimmed; beneath the mask her lips tightened.
Bound to the shrine, she was shackled by divine rules
unable to take corporeal form or reveal her existence.
It was both her way of protecting her daughters and her eternal chain.
"Rules are dead; people live."
Reading her silence, Rei Ao tapped her brow again; the divine pathways he'd infused grew brighter.
"Now the restraints are gone."
He nodded toward the squid in AmagamiYae's hand, about to burn.
"Don't you want to tell her to sprinkle a bit of lemon juice when she flips it?"
A sharp light flared in Chiharu's eyes.
"Yae still hasn't learned even simple cooking?"
~~~
For Every 100 Powerstone = 1 Bonus Chapter! Please Vote for more Chapters!
Patreon(.)com/Bleam
Currently You can Read 220+ Chapters Ahead of Others!
Chapter 749: Chiharu's Choice...
Amagami Chiharu suddenly looked up, amber eyes trembling with emotion.
She saw AmagamiYae hop around after a spark from the fire singed her, while AmagamiAsahi anxiously blew on her sister's fingers.
The scene overlapped perfectly with a distant memory of their mother grilling fish for them on this very beach.
Rei Ao's words had been a key, unlocking a desire she had sealed away
especially now, seeing her "idiot daughters" still acting like the lovable fools they'd always been.
"Go to them," Rei Ao whispered, stepping back to give her space.
"At least let them know their mother has always been here."
When Rei Ao led AmagamiChiharunow wearing a fox masktoward the bonfire, every pair of eyes snapped toward them as if a murderer had appeared.
Nodoka was stuffing icecream into her mouth.
The moment she noticed the shrine maiden robes and the familiar mask marked, she tugged on Futaba Rio's sleeve.
"Riosenpai, why is Mai suddenly cosplaying?And standing so close to Rei Ao?"
Remembering the earlier suggestive atmosphere, her cheeks flushed crimson, guessing the two might share some peculiar hobby.
Shinomiya Kaguya's brows rose. "That's SakurajimaMai? Her height and figure look different."
"Huh? She's"
Tohru and the others who possessed blessings from Rei Ao also sensed that the masked woman was not SakurajimaMai.
But it was the Amagami sisters whose reactions were most extreme.
AmagamiYuna's hand froze, skewer halfway to her mouth, eyes locked on the foxmasked figure.
That shrinemaiden outfit was their mother's favorite design, down to the trailing fringe of kiky blossoms at the waist.
Yae paused in her tugofwar with Tohru over roasted meat, brows knitting. "Sis I think I smell Mom. It's that saltysavory scent mixed with sea breeze."
Asahi was simply stunned, her cotton candy slipping from her hand to the sand unnoticed.
The masked woman stood beside Rei Ao.
Though a mask hid her face, she inexplicably made them recall nights when Mother held them while they watched the stars.
At Rei Ao's nod, AmagamiChiharu silently approached the grill.
Without a word she picked up a skewer of saury, deftly brushed it with sauce, and sprinkled it with chopped scallionsthe seasoning Yuna had loved most as a child.
When it was done, she handed it to Yuna with trembling hands.
"Ththanks"
Yuna accepted it reflexively. The warmth of the fish against her fingertips made her eyes sting.
The instant she tasted it, the familiar flavor shot through her like electricity
Mother's secret sauce recipe: a hint of plum sweetness, the salty freshness unique to the seaside.
"Mm!"
She was the first to lose control; tears plopped onto the sand.
"This taste it's Mom's"
Yae bit into the grilled shrimp Chiharu offered.
The careful way the shell had been slit and the vein removed was exactly how their mother used to keep them from biting into the grit.
She couldn't hold back either and asked through sobs, "Who are you? How can you cook Mom's food? Why"
