"Hey, Kaa-sama. Will Akeno also make a friend?"

"Yes, you definitely will. Akeno, what do you want to do with your friend when you make one?"

"Umm……Akeno wants to go to see different places, go to the same school, and join the same club as her."

"……Do you want to go to school, Akeno?"

"It's okay. Akeno will be alright as long as Akeno has Kaa-sama and Tou-sama."

"…I hope that you make a kind friend."

"Yup! And Akeno wants a husband who will be strong and kind like Tou-sama!"

"Ufufu, if your father hears that, then he will be troubled."

"Why?"

"That's because of your father…”

----

“Kaa-sama”

A groan sounded as Akeno slowly opened her eyes.

‘Where I am?’

Despite her relatively young age, her year of experience allowed her to not immediately freak out after waking up in an unfamiliar environment. She first began to observe her surroundings.

She was, without a doubt, in a bedroom. A rather normal one without much if any decoration. Only a bed and a desk on the side. The room was rather spacious, making this situation even clearer.

She got up and inspected her clothes. Her Miko clothes were a little disorderly, but nothing was out of the way, so nothing happened to her. She was neither bound nor gagged, so she was free of movement.

She left the bed and began to walk toward the door. Once she tried to open it, *Click*, it opened smoothly without any problem. Then most likely she wasn’t kidnapped nor imprisoned.

She left the room and began to walk toward the hallway. it was rather long, with a few paintings on the wall depicting fruits, or trees, or different landscapes. Those paintings were extremely beautiful.

‘I wonder who did it’

As she finally reached the end of the hallway, she saw a rather large painting. No, it wasn’t a painting this time, but rather a very large photo, pinned on the wall. On it, four people were present. More precisely, three people and one tiger. Or was it a panther? She wasn’t sure.

Apart from that black panther, the painting showed, a rather mature black-haired woman wearing a white sundress, one gold haired boy with heterochromia wearing black and gold priest clothes, finally a young silver-haired boy who should be about her age, wearing a pair of short and a white shirt.

‘Are they members of the same family?’

She didn’t think so. This photo was good enough that it was easy to see those three people had nothing in common. Still, it was also easy to see that they seemed to be very close, even though the woman had an indifferent expression while the younger boy had a grouchy one. Only the golden-haired one showed a smile. But it was more a bitter one full of helplessness.

She stopped looking at it and began to walk down the stairs. It seemed like it was a rather large house. Perhaps some kind of rich family or nobility? She didn’t know.

Still, after walking down until the end, she was finally able to hear some noise. At the end of this hall. Many doors stood. But the noise was coming from behind one of them. It was rather muffled, but she was sure that it was the sound of discussion.

‘What should I do?’

She was starting to hesitate. The most sensible thing would be to flee. But that would be stupid. If the people that helped her had good intentions, fleeing would leave a bad taste in her mouth. On the other hand, if those people held malicious intent towards her, she doubted she would be able to flee even if she wished to. Finally, she inhaled before steeling her nerves.

“Let’s do it.”

She walked and once she reached the door, she finally knocked on it.

“Come in. We were waiting for you.”

A man answered her from behind the door. Even though her memory was rather blurry, she recognized it. It was the voice of the one that had carried her. She hesitated a moment before finally opening the door.

A weird sight greeted her.

‘The people from the photo on the wall.’

It was normal for them to be here when she thought about it. But it was what they were doing she found weird.

The door she opened seemed to lead to the living room of the house. It was once again a rather normal living room. A TV hung on the wall, a kotatsu in the middle of the room, a few sofas and a comfy chair in the surrounding.

The young silver-haired boy was slurping on what looked like some kind of ramen. The golden-haired one was seated on an office desk and seemed to be drawing, the woman was wearing a black tank top that stopped just a little after breast and hot pants and was drinking a beer. Finally… a panther was slowly licking a lollipop while looking at her.

‘What kind of place did I find myself in?’