PHASE 96 - DON’T BULLY MY JECCHAN!

Rikkun and I have been living in peace here in the Brightmore Shrine for weeks. We have finally decided to spend the rest of our lives here. Rikkun said that it would be a waste if we leave the Brightmore Shrine abandoned once again, so even if we discovered a cure for my curse, we will still stay.

Speaking of the curse I had, everything is fine. The broken magic handcuffs prevent me from unleashing prana from my body, so I won’t be able to harm anyone. This does mean also that as long as I have my handcuffs, I can’t fight Eidolons as a Gate Guardian. I will live on as a regular human being.

It doesn’t matter that much to me. The Brightmore Town is only a secluded small town with a low population, so Eidolons are not active in this place. Even if Eidolons appear, Rikkun could do it single-handedly. He managed to defeat countless gods, goddesses, and Gate Guardians. He can take down the whole Black Cross Legion on his own!

However, there is a problem, and it’s all about the sealing handcuffs. As days go on, I notice a crack on my broken handcuffs that gets bigger. Evil energy is leaking out from the handcuff, which means that it could not contain the curse any longer.

I’m afraid to go nuts and wreck havoc again. I’m scared that I may kill people once more.

To make things worse, there is a bigger problem. We have been tracked.

<>

It was a bright sunny morning when that problem went towards in front of our face. While I was busy sweeping the entrance of the shrine with my broom, two familiar-sounding footsteps went to me.

“Good morning, Tiara. Long time no see~” A petite girl with blonde hair tied with white ribbons has presented herself. She waved her hand as if she has been longing to see a friend. Behind her is a hooded figure in a white blanket.

“J-J-Jecchan!?” I shrieked. I was so shocked that I dropped my broom. I was frozen in place.

Suddenly, I heard a swift swish of the wind. A platinum-clad armor immediately crashed in front of me, making a superhero landing. The helmet of the armored knight folded itself until it revealed the face of my love.

“Tiara, stay back.” Rikkun spread his arm to block me.

“Oh my, is this how you treat your visitors to the shrine?” Jecchan sassily said as she flicked her left twin-tail.

“I sensed that you are going here, so I went to check it out. I never thought that you’ll arrive at our front door.” Rikkun gritted. “What are you doing here?”

“Just visiting an all-time friend, that’s all,” Jecchan said, not intimidated. There’s no sign that she’ll turn aggressive at any moment.

“Cut the crap. You know that you can’t beat me, so you’re going to talk me out of this. Let me remind you, I will not surrender Tiara to the Black Cross, not even to you!” Rikkun said.

“You know, you really are an idiot, Alaric.” Jecchan squinted her eyes. “You should use the God Fragment of Athena every time so that you’ll appear smart once in a while.”

“Yeah, you really are a fool, Alaric!” Suddenly, the hooded white figure immediately threw her disguise and revealed herself to be a petite shrine maiden with long brown hair tied in loops, and a set of sparkling optimistic eyes with pure kindness. Her smile gave me hope as I finally realized her.

“A-Asumi-nee!” I immediately rushed and hugged my guardian/onee-san tight as I cried on her chest. “I-I’m glad to see you! It’s been a year since I last saw you!”

“Hahaha! My adorable Tiara! I miss you very much!” Asumi-nee said.

“A-Asumi!?” Rikkun’s jaw hung. Losing the will to fight, he dematerialized his Aether Armor.

<>

Since they are quite the pacifist, Rikkun and I let them enter our home. We prepared tea and fried mojos for them to enjoy as we talked on the empty cafeteria part of the shrine. While Rikkun and Jecchan are busily glaring at each other, Asumi-nee and I had this joyful conversation about our shrines.

“This is an awesome shrine, Tiara! Hey, why won’t we collaborate our shrines to make a joint venture! With the combined powers of Kozukata Shrine and Brightmore Shrine, our income would be legendary!” Asumi-nee stepped on the dining table and pumped her fists. Her willpower is like thunder roaring in the skies.

“Ahaha! Sasuga Asumi-nee sama! That would be great!” I clapped my hands with joy. Seeing Asumi-nee this energetic makes me want to go back to Heightsburg right now.

“Since you have come back to this shrine, it would be wise to rename this place to Hikari Shrine! Sounds great, huh!? Huh!?”

“Y-Yes! Will do!” I pumped my fists.

Suddenly, Jecchan joined the conversation in a disinterested manner. She took a sip on her tea and then made her cold sermon.

“I’m not really interested in this shrine business thing you have, Miss Asumi… But that is not what we came for.”

“R-Right…” Asumi-nee’s energy was shut down by Jecchan’s remark. She immediately sat down on her seat and stuffed her mouth with potatoes.

“So, why are you here?” Rikkun asked Jecchan with a cold glare.

“Oh my, you’re still overprotective, aren’t you?” Jecchan teasingly said. “Don’t worry, we won’t lay a hand on your lovely Tiara.”

“Heh! You can’t even lay a hand on her as long as I’m around. I whooped your asses, remember?” Rikkun arrogantly proclaimed.

“Just so you know, I held back. I did not actively participate in that battle, and I asked Kristoff to miss his final snipe when you were escaping. If I wanted Tiara to be killed, I would have used my to order Tiara to choke herself to death or something.” Jecchan sassily said.

Almost immediately, Jecchan gave out a sad and troubled expression.

"Besides, if we kill Tiara, you would completely lose your mind and become Aeternos for all eternity..."

“But still, I whooped your ass. Not even all the gods on your side can make a scratch on me.” Rikkun said in a king-like narcissism, ignoring the serious remark Jecchan just made.

Jecchan felt that this conversation is going nowhere but a contest on who could piss each other more, so she finally made a disgusted blush on the blonde prince.

“Fine, fine, Whatever floats your boat. You could have ravished all the people that night if you wanted. We were utterly defeated. Savvy?”

I stopped eating the mojos and immediately joined the conversation. “R-Ravish! You’re letting Rikkun ravish you? You should have told us that beforehand! I thought you hated threesome!”

“T-That’s not what I meant!” Jecchan’s face went full red. “IT’S A FIGURE OF SPEECH, DUMMY!!!”

Jecchan’s shout is like a powerful typhoon that blasted some of the food on the table. Rikkun, Jecchan, and Asumi-nee’s face are all blushing, but Asumi-nee looks like he’s holding her air preventing not to laugh.

“Oh, you guys are naughty, huh~” Asumi-nee held her cheeks. After that, she wrapped her elbow around the nape of my neck and dragged me to her side. “You seem to become a lot more mature now, huh?”

“Eh?”

“Hey, hey… How far have you gone with Alaric? I’ve heard you’ve been living here alone with Rikkun for more or less a month now. Should I get ready to have a grandchild?” Asumi-nee whispered, but it’s loud enough for Rikkun and Jecchan to hear it. Those two blondes tried to pretend that they did not hear it by sipping their tea.

“U-Uh…” I blushingly bumped my index fingers over and over, trying to formulate the words to say to prevent my embarrassment. “W-Well, Rikkun learned some kind of spell to prevent accidents from happening…”

“Oh my! So you have done it!” Asumi-nee celebrated. Meanwhile, Jecchan spits out her tea. Rikkun also did it a few seconds late.

I nodded my head nervously to confirm Asumi-nee’s theory.

“Way to go, Tiara! I bet you’re doing it five times a day!” Asumi-nee laughed.

“F-Four! Just four times!” I cried out loud to deny it.

This time, Jecchan spit out all the tea she had from her cup. She slammed her hand on the table and then protested to the person on her left, which is my live-in partner Rikkun.

“How disgusting! You’re still high school students, and you’re doing it way more than expected! Even if there’s some kind of protection, these immoral things shouldn’t be done by you guys, especially that you are Gate Guardians! Gross! Sinful! Lustful mongrels!”

“Calm down, Jeannette~” Asumi-nee laughed at the exploding blonde girl. “They’re eighteen, geez! They can do it legally already. They should enjoy their transition from teenage to young adult life by consummating their love~”

“Yeah, Asumi is right.” Rikkun nodded. “You’re just bitter because you don’t have somebody to like you. I know you like our universe’s Kristoff, but he’s already married to Naomi. You should know your place, you little virgin midget.”

“H-How dare you!” Jecchan cried. Literally cried. She’s having her shaking eyes wet with her bubbling tears.

“Rikkun, Asumi-nee.” I held my chest, trying to beg them. “Please don’t make fun of Jecchan. I know she does not have any experience, but it doesn’t mean that she must be bullied.”

“T-Tiara… you really are my best friend.” Jecchan immediately jumped to me and dipped her face on my chest. She hugged me tight that made it a little bit hard to breathe. “I’m sorry if I handed you to the bad guys! Uwaaaaaah!”

“There, there.” I rubbed my adorable Jecchan’s head as if I’m petting a poor kitten.

…

Now then, where were we? I think we just wasted a whole chapter without knowing why Asumi-nee and Jecchan are here!