Shizuka looked at Akuto, who seemed even more captivating than before, and her heart skipped a beat. Her cheeks grew warm, and the words welcome back nearly slipped out.
Then, in the very next second, her gaze was caught by the figures filing out behind him.
Erika Blandelli, radiant as the sun with her dazzling blonde hair and commanding presence.
Liliana Kranjcar, silver-haired and cool, carrying herself with a noble grace.
And then Saint Raphael, Karen, Arianna...
Every one of them was a striking beauty who would stand out anywhere in Italy. Yet at this moment, they all clustered behind Akuto like stars surrounding the moon.
Most importantly, Shizuka noticed the way they looked at him. Every single one of them was gazing at Akuto with the unmistakable affection of a woman looking at the man she loved.
No way... could all of them really be Akuto-nii's...?!
Whether they were or not, the fact that all of Akuto's attendants were gorgeous girls instantly stirred up a wave of displeasure in her chest.
The sour flare of jealousy scattered the warmth that had just begun to bloom in her heart. She forcibly swallowed back her greeting, let out a huff through her nose, turned her face aside, puffed out her cheeks into her trademark pouting expression, and folded her arms across her chest in a clear declaration that she was angry.
The atmosphere fell awkward once again.
Yuri looked at Shizuka with concern, then at Akuto.
Kaoru frowned slightly and was about to say something to ease the tension.
At that moment, a tiny figure slipped nimbly out of the crowd like a swallow darting into its nest, calling out in a bright, cheerful voice.
"Akuto-nii!"
It was Hikari.
She completely ignored the delicate mood of the moment, and also ignored Yuri's hand trying to pull her back. She ran straight up to Akuto, lifted her little face with a dazzling smile, and held up a carefully wrapped lunchbox in both hands.
"Welcome back! I made this bento specially for you, Akuto-nii! Onee-chan taught me!"
She was not actually lying. Yuri had not taught her how to cook yesterday, but Hikari had learned her cooking skills from Yuri in the first place. So saying her sister had taught her was not wrong at all.
Akuto paused for a second, and the already gentle look in his eyes softened with a trace of fond indulgence.
Then, as if performing a magic trick, he produced a stone pillar model from behind his back, about ten centimeters tall.
It was small, but it gave off an ancient, weighty sense of age. A closer look revealed faint traces of weathered inscriptions still clinging to its surface.
"Right. I brought you back a souvenir from Italy too. Just a little trinket from the Colosseum in Rome."
Hikari took it curiously. It felt cool and heavy in her hands, and an indescribable sense of majesty made her little face turn solemn.
"Wow! Thank you, Akuto-nii! I'll treasure it!"
Hikari hugged the stone pillar tightly, clearly unwilling to let it go.
The people around them, especially Touma Amakasu and Kaoru, had their pupils contract sharply.
They could both clearly sense that it was no ordinary keepsake. A terrifying divine power was sealed inside it, and if it were ever activated, it could probably kill them in an instant.
Akuto was actually giving away something this terrifying as a souvenir?
...
Over on the other side, Shizuka watched the intimate way Hikari acted around Akuto, then looked at the obviously extraordinary gift in her hands. The grievance and jealousy inside her churned even harder.
She suddenly realized that Hikari seemed to overlap with her in a very dangerous way. It felt as though her own positions as "childhood friend" and "cute little sister" were being seriously threatened.
Shizuka bit her lower lip and tried her best to maintain her I'm very angry stance, but her eyes still reddened slightly against her will. Her arms tightened more firmly around herself, and she shot stubborn glances at Akuto from the corners of her eyes, as if silently saying:
Hurry up and coax me already.
The smile at the corner of Akuto's lips deepened.
He stood up and let his gaze settle on Shizuka again. His tall figure fell over her, carrying with it a familiar scent that had somehow become even more reassuring and heart-stirring than before.
To Shizuka, it felt like the scent of the sun.
She was not wrong. Akuto had now absorbed the myths of Verethragna and Mithra and possessed a genuine solar divinity.
Of course, with Shizuka's strength, she could never actually perceive something like a sun god's authority. All she knew was that Akuto had become even more irresistible to her than before.
...
"Shizuka, where's your 'welcome back'? Don't tell me... you're not even going to welcome me home?"
Akuto smiled at her as her expression gradually shifted from displeasure to shyness. It had to be said, a red-grade succubus bloodline really was powerful. When affection itself could not decrease, soothing an angry girl was almost absurdly easy.
"Hmph!"
Shizuka gave an emphatic snort and turned her face away from him, refusing to look, but the slight trembling in her shoulders betrayed how unsettled she really was.
Before she could react, Akuto opened his arms and pulled her fully into his embrace.
The warm, solid hug wrapped around her in an instant. That familiar yet strangely unfamiliar scent, mixed with sunlight and some deeper, harder-to-describe power, rushed over her and made her freeze on the spot. She even forgot to struggle.
"Let go of me! Akuto-nii, you big womanizing jerk!"
Shizuka struggled symbolically a couple of times, but there was a faint tremble in her voice that sounded dangerously close to tears.
Akuto held her a little tighter, resting his chin lightly on top of her head.
"Sorry. I made you worry."
"This is yours."
Shizuka looked at the stone pillar held out before her, then at Akuto's deep eyes. The grievance in her chest eased a little, but she still refused to soften her tone.
"I don't want the same thing Hikari got..."
"Hikari's is Hikari's. Yours comes with something extra."
As though he had seen right through her thoughts, Akuto pulled out something else as if by magic - a beautifully shaped seashell about the size of his palm, shimmering with rainbow-colored light.
"This is a seashell from Sicily. I picked it out especially for you."
He placed it gently into her palm. It felt warm and smooth to the touch, and it seemed as though the sound of tides was surging inside it. Hidden within was a vast, all-embracing aura of oceanic authority, clearly infused with power by Akuto himself.
Originally, Akuto had possessed no ocean-related Authority. But after developing the acquired Authority of Heavenly Wheel Battle Aura, he had begun experimenting with other acquired Authorities as well.
The power infused into this seashell was precisely an acquired Authority he had developed after comprehending the Leviathan bloodline.
Shizuka stared blankly at the iridescent shell in her hand, then looked back at Akuto.
"...Don't souvenirs usually come one at a time?"
Akuto's voice was very soft, but to Shizuka it struck like a hammer against her heart.
"When you gave me that handmade little booklet before, Shizuka... I never forgot your feelings."
In an instant, the memory flashed through her mind: the day before he left, when she had blushed furiously while stuffing that little booklet into his hands, only for him to suddenly steal a kiss from her.
So... he had remembered all this time.
All the unease and jealousy that had grown after seeing so many beautiful girls around him seemed to find an outlet in that moment. Tears spilled free at last, rolling from her reddened eyes like pearls from a broken string.
"Idiot... who asked you to remember something like that..."
Her voice was thick with tears. She could no longer keep up her tsundere front. She buried her face deep in Akuto's broad chest and clutched tightly at the fabric on his back, as though holding on to a treasure she had almost lost.
He lowered his head and placed a soft kiss on her smooth forehead.
The kiss carried a soothing tenderness, but also a faint, nearly imperceptible hint of temptation - something that came from the power of the succubus bloodline within him.
A strange warmth, along with a deeply intoxicating sense of comfort, spread through Shizuka's entire body in an instant. Her tense body completely relaxed, a lovely blush rose over her cheeks, and she even forgot to cry, left only with the blank, dazed feeling of being wrapped up in happiness.
But Akuto did not stop there.
While Shizuka was still lost in that overwhelming comfort, his long fingers gently lifted her chin. In her dazed gaze, tinged with confusion and a trace of anticipation, he bent down and captured her trembling lips.
"Mmh...!"
Shizuka's eyes widened instantly, her mind going completely blank.
This time, Akuto did not kiss her forehead.
He kissed her lips.
His kiss, carrying his unique scent, landed against the girl's soft mouth with both dominance and tenderness.
The strange power born of his succubus bloodline swelled at once, making Shizuka go weak all over. Her thoughts drifted, and all of her grievance and resentment seemed to be washed away by that deep kiss.
Shizuka shyly responded to him, her arms wrapping around Akuto's neck without her even realizing it, completely forgetting that a whole crowd of people was still watching.
Erika lifted a brow with obvious interest, a playful smile curving at the corner of her lips.
Liliana turned her face slightly aside, the tips of her pale ears flushing with a faint trace of red as she muttered under her breath, "Lord Akuto is being a little too impatient, isn't he...?"
Saint Raphael's gaze remained calm, as though she had long since seen through everything. Judging by Akuto's current behavior, this barely even counted as anything worth noting.
(End of Chapter)
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