Tomusa Is Best When She's Flustered — End of Part One
I woke in the warmth of Tomusa's arms.
"Are you awake, young master?"
"Mm. Just now."
She must have risen before me, only to find she couldn't move for fear of waking me. I knew it the moment she noticed I was up and spoke.
"Sorry. You couldn't even move because of me. It was uncomfortable, wasn't it?"
At that, Tomusa let out a soft little laugh.
"Not at all. I was glad I could watch you sleeping so sweetly."
"Ugh, enjoying that... you pervert...."
"No! This is completely different from that kind of feeling it's like when you see a small animal and find it cute and feel fond of it...!"
Badly flustered by what I'd said, she machine-gunned the words out of herself.
"I'm kidding~. I know perfectly well what you think of me."
To set her at ease, I nuzzled my cheek against her.
"Please don't tease me like that. Do you have any idea how awkward it makes things for me?"
"Hehe. If you tell me not to, I'll just have to do it more often."
"Young master...?"
Tomusa looked at me with uneasy eyes.
"Well then, shall we go eat?"
But I said it on purpose, and slipped out of her arms, leaving her hanging there.
"You aren't actually going to, are you, young master...?"
"Hmm... going to what? Just help me change."
She kept glancing at me as if she couldn't believe a word of it, but it was funny, so I decided to ignore her.
"Clothes really are easier to put on when you're here."
"Young master, please pay a little more attention to straightening your collar."
"Don't wanna~. I've got you."
"I can hardly keep doing it for you for the rest of your life."
"What? You mean you weren't going to do it for life?"
At that, Tomusa flushed and turned her head away.
"I-if someone heard talk like that, they would misunderstand."
"So you won't do it for life?"
"...I will."
She hung her head and went on.
"Then that's fine."
With her help I changed and headed for the dining hall.
With Mom and Dad away there was less to be done, and perhaps because of that, color had come back into everyone's faces.
"Then I'll enjoy every bite."
I threw myself into the meal with my usual martial fervor.
I'd wondered whether I ought to eat a little more modestly, the way men did in this world. But Tomusa had once told me, "I believe the servants would prefer you ate just as you do now," so I ate the way I always had.
"Young master, would you try this? It's a dish made from vegetables we harvested not long ago."
Om, nom, nom.
"Young master, I took a dish you enjoyed before and made a variation. Please give this a try as well."
Om, nom, nom.
"Young master, meat really is the best, isn't it? Here's today's meat dish."
Om, nom, nom.
Come to think of it, though, I had every reason to be loved by the kitchen. I never fussed over the food or picked around it, and I cleaned the plate on time, leaving nothing behind. It was practically every quality a cook who fed babies could hope for, gathered in one person.
"Thank you for the meal!"
The servants watched me right through to the end, warm and satisfied smiles on their faces.
"Tomusa, let's walk it off a little, then go train."
Sure enough, the moment I slipped out of the dining hall, there came the busy clatter of someone hurriedly eating.
"Nothing settles a meal like a light stroll."
"You don't seem to care for tea, though, young master."
"Mm... tea and I don't really get along. Maybe I'm still too young."
"I hope a day comes when I can share a cup with you."
I looked at Tomusa, puzzled.
"Eating together is out, but drinking tea is fine?"
"Tea is acceptable."
What an odd person. Still, it meant she had a code of her own. That was all.
"Then what about drinking together?"
"Alcohol is not acceptable."
"Even if I'm the one pouring?"
"...No."
A brief silence fell before she answered. That was the sign she was actually considering it.
"What about if I pour you exactly one cup? Just one."
"...No."
"Oh, come on, a single cup would be fine~. Can't you just burn the drunkenness off with your internal energy?"
"...Then just one c— no. I will not drink."
Tch. So even this wasn't enough to tip her over? One of these days, without fail, I was going to get a drink into Tomusa. Even so, it was a bit of a letdown to have a request of mine brushed aside so thoroughly.
"Hmph. Fine, then. Let's go train."
"Yes, young master."
Tch. I'd been hoping to see her utterly at a loss, but that trick was losing its edge. No matter. I wasn't completely out of methods. I'd simply find another way to watch her flounder.
"First, off to training!"
And so, today as ever, we made for the practice yard.
By day I only reviewed what my master had taught me, so Tomusa didn't watch me too closely. Which was precisely why daytime could be called a gap in her guard.
"Haa... how long did the circulation take today?"
"A little short of half a ke again today."
"Yeah? Still, that's a lot better than before."
"Proof that your vessel is growing, young master."
All right. The circulation was finished, which meant it was time to set my plan in motion.
"Tomusa, sit here for a second."
"Like this?"
She sat down on the floor of the practice yard without a shred of suspicion.
Whump.
And I climbed straight into her arms, settling there with my head laid between her breasts.
—!!!
Sudden contact. Just as I'd expected, Tomusa looked as if she'd been startled out of her skin. I had no intention of stopping there.
"Ah, maybe the heat hasn't broken yet. It's a little warm."
I took hold of my collar and kept lifting it and letting it fall, the cloth fluttering each time.
"Y-young master...?"
Her eyes darted wildly, unable to come to rest anywhere at all.
"What, are you hot too?"
"Yes, it's far too hot, so would you please move away for a moment?"
The words spilled out of her at tremendous speed.
"Mm... no! I'll cool you off instead."
I gathered my focus and drew a chill up out of my whole body.
"How's that? A little cooler?"
"Even so, young master, I've been sweating, so please do move away."
Cooling her seemed to settle her a little, and this time she managed to go on calmly. Even so, I had no intention of letting her off here.
"Whyyy? I don't mind one bit if you're soaked in sweat."
"Even so, there will be a smell...."
"I like even the smell of your sweat."
At that, Tomusa couldn't get another word out. She froze solid.
Maybe I'd leave it at this for today.
"Ah, let's do sword training now, Tomusa."
I slipped out of her arms, meaning to put her back the way she had been.
"Yes...? Ah... yes...."
But she was still miles away.
Sure enough, this was Tomusa at her very best — teased until she didn't know which way was up.
Perhaps because I'd driven the sense clean out of her, today's sword training went at a lighter intensity than usual. I'd have to make good use of this little cheat later, whenever I felt like slacking.
Tomusa still hadn't recovered her wits even in the moment she fell asleep.
"Young master... did you mean what you said earlier?"
"Of course. I like every part of you."
—!!!
"H-how could I... how... how could I dare...."
From the way she stammered, the shock must have been considerable. Next time, I'd lower the intensity a little.
And so the week without Mom and Dad came to an end. They had been enjoyable days, full of memories made with Tomusa.
For the record, the outing into town was discovered the very day Mom and Dad returned.
"I hear you went out into the streets."
"How did you know?"
"Zhejiang is no different from my own domain. And that was the street nearest the family estate, was it not?"
Even now, remembering it made my head spin.
"And so I considered a punishment."
At that moment I thought the sky was falling. But the punishment Mom handed down was even more shocking than the one I had imagined....
I was locked in the house.
No hiatus!
Starting tomorrow, we're off to meet a fully grown I-hyeon — still a kid on the inside!
Mount Song. The Shaolin Temple.
"Good day, Martial Aunt."
"Hello, Martial Aunt."
"Yes. Good to see you."
"Are you well, junior sister?"
"Good morning, junior sister."
"Yes, it's a perfectly wonderful morning, senior sister."
Long hair let down her back, a gray kasaya on her body — anyone could see she was a nun. Petite as she was, she seemed well loved, judging by the way she took a greeting from everyone and gave one in return.
"Martial niece, where are you off to in such a hurry?"
"Good day, Martial Aunt. Master called for me, so I was on my way to the Cavern of Repentance."
"The Cavern of Repentance... I see. Go carefully."
"May you go in peace as well, Martial Aunt."
Her destination was the Cavern of Repentance. Deep within Shaolin, it was where those who had fallen into demonic nature, or who had come after committing wrongs out in the secular world, were sent. No one else would have known it, but she was one of them too.
"You called for me?"
"Yes, you've come. A mission has arrived, for the first time in a long while."
Up until that moment, she had sensed nothing out of the ordinary.
"Where did it come from?"
"The Zhejiang Yu Family."
The Zhejiang Yu Family. At those words, her brow twitched.
"What sort of mission is it?"
"An escort."
Thump. Thump.
Nothing but ordinary words. And yet those two were more than enough to strike a spark in her heart.
"And the one I'm to guard?"
"The young master of the Zhejiang Yu Family. Yu I-hyeon."
Thump. Thump. Thump.
"Well? Will you accept the mission?"
"I will."
The storm that had been lulled to sleep at Shaolin was about to rise and blow once more.