“Whuh?!” Tomoe reacted with surprise.
I put my hand on top of her head, patting her from over top of her hood. “Well, that’s how it is, so if you see anything you like, let me know, okay?”
“Um… But…”
“It’s fine. Let me act like a proper big brother every once in a while.”
With those words, I pushed Tomoe off towards Juna.
Juna nodded to me, taking Tomoe by the hand and going to look at the wares on display. Tomoe was stiff at first, but she was a girl. As she looked at the different items with Juna, I could feel her gradually getting into shopping.
Now, this left me as a man with little to do. I enjoyed watching the beautiful woman and little girl enjoying themselves shopping for a while, but I got tired of just waiting, and wandered around the store myself.
They had clothing, shoes, accessories, and even makeup. There was a really wide selection of items here. Truly, it was the 109 of Amidonia… Well, not that I’d ever been to 109, or even to Shibuya, for that matter. Perhaps because the women of Van had begun awakening to fashion, more than eighty percent of the sales floor was devoted to women’s products. This shop had supposedly catered only to men before, but now it had coats for them, and that was about it.
As I was looking around, I found a number of products that interested me.
The first was lipstick. It was a color lighter than light pink.
The second was a hair accessory. It was made with gold and little stones, making it seem like a quality piece, but it had a ladybug motif, making it seem incongruously childish.
The third was a choker. It was made of blue leather with silver foil scattered around like stars. The clasp was made of gold, with a design like a bird spreading its wings.
They all looked good.
Then, finally… the last thing that caught my eye was a pair of tiny loafers meant for a young girl. They had clips with a ribbon motif on them, and were absolutely adorable.
These loafers… I think they might look perfect on Tomoe, I thought.
“Hey, Tomo—”
“Master Kazuya.”
Just as I was about to call out to them, Sebastian stopped me. I turned around, thinking it suspicious, and Sebastian said, “Pardon me for the sudden interruption,” with a bow. “There was something I’ve been wanting to ask you, Master Kazuya. Would that be acceptable?”
“…What is it?” I asked.
“Let us suppose that, on the battlefield, the generals had gathered for a war council.”
…What? Battlefield? War council? Why’s he bringing this up all of a sudden? I thought.
“Let us also suppose that the first idea brought up at that war council was a good one. If you were the supreme commander of that army, would you immediately adopt that idea?”
“…I wouldn’t,” I said. “I’d think there might be better ideas.”
“Precisely,” he said. “That is why, if you were one of the generals, and you wished to have your idea adopted, rather than submit it at once, you should wait until the council comes to an impasse.”
“I see… I see…”
“What I mean to say is, the games played between men and women are also a battle.”
“…Ah,” I said. “I get you.”
I finally understood what Sebastian was trying to say. He was saying I should wait a little longer before pushing the loafers I thought would look good on Tomoe.
That was fair enough, because Juna and Tomoe were enjoying looking through the other products. If I brought them something good now, it would be like pouring a bucket of cold water on them when they were having a good time. If they chose to go with it, their fun time would end, and if they choose not to, it’d be awkward for me. Neither of those was what they wanted.
I was deeply grateful for Sebastian’s consideration. “You, sir, are a wonderful tactician.”
“I am honored by your praise.” Sebastian placed his right hand on his belly, respectfully bowing to me. It was a theatrical gesture, but it was smoothly delivered, so it didn’t offend me.
Then, something occurred to me.
“By the way, you just used a war council analogy…” Could he be aware of our true identities? I brought it up because I thought he might be, but Sebastian hurriedly shook his head.
“Oh, my… Pardon me for that. Until just the other day, I had only dealt with the nobility, you see. I can’t seem to break the habit. If I offended you somehow, I apologize. I have a regular customer who is fond of such banter.”
“…No, it’s no big deal,” I said. “Is that regular of yours a soldier?”
“No, no, more like an adorable little tanuki,” Sebastian said.
A little tanuki, huh. Between the proprietor I couldn’t get a read on, and this person he called a little tanuki… I was intrigued. But, setting that aside for now, I bought a few things quietly so that the other two wouldn’t notice. After that, I waited for the two of them to finish looking things over, then recommended those cute loafers to Tomoe. Tomoe was hesitant to accept, as I expected she might be, but she seemed like she liked them, so I half-forced them on her as a present.
Tomoe held the box with the loafers in it tight to her chest. “Th-Thank you… big brother… I’ll treasure them…”
As she said that, tears formed in her eyes, so I patted her head gently. Maybe now we’d been able to act a little like brother and sister. If I thought about it, the only ones I’d been able to call family before were my grandparents. But now there was Liscia, there was Tomoe, and there were Aisha and Juna.
…Yeah, it’s nice being able to feel connected to people. As I patted my little sister’s head, that thought really began to sink in for me.
Juna was standing next to us, watching with a smile.
“Ah, Juna,” I said. “Hold on a second.”
It was just past noon when we left Sebastian’s store. While we were on the move, looking for some place to maybe get lunch, I had Juna stop for a second.
“Is something the matter?” she asked.
I handed Juna a little bag as she looked at me quizzically. “I wanted to give this to you.”
“To me?”
Juna accepted it, opening it up, and inside was that ladybug shaped accessory. It was one of the ones I’d secretly bought earlier.
“Huh?!” she cried. “Um, what is…”
“You’re always doing so much for me,” I said. “It’s my way of saying thanks.”
“No, I couldn’t possibly accept something like this. I don’t have the right…”
“Pass it here.” I took the ladybug from Juna, fixing it in her hair.
Yep, it looked just like I’d imagined it would. It was far too childish a design for the usual mature Juna, but when the younger-looking Juna of today wore it, she looked like a young girl trying a little too hard to be mature. It was cute.
“It really suits you, Juna,” I said.
“Ohh…”
When I acted like I was the more mature one, Juna uncharacteristically blushed. I felt like I’d finally won a small victory over her, the one who always seemed more mature. Juna whipped her head to the side and looked away.
“Sire. If you are going to give presents to women, make sure you give them to the princess and anyone else simultaneously. In your position, you’ll probably end up taking multiple wives. If that happens, you can’t play favorites. You have to either love all of them equally, or accept that marriage is just another political tool and love none of them. Anyway, not causing discord between the women in your life is another of your duties, okay?”
Juna spoke rapidly, trying to distract me. That she spoke so much was proof of her embarrassment.
“It’s okay,” I said. “I have something for Liscia and Aisha, too.”