Stardew Valley of Gensokyo

"Alright, alright, it's not cold at all. Come and sit down." Aya Shameimaru saw through his stubbornness but didn't call him out on it. She simply patted the cushion next to her and invited him to sit down.

It would be foolish not to take the opportunity given to you. Akina Ze threw the blanket onto the bed and crawled into the kotatsu.

uh~

Even Akina Sawa couldn't help but groan from the comfort of the warm kotatsu.

"Have a piece of orange." Aya Shameimaru, who was sitting next to me, peeled an orange, placed a segment on it, and handed it to me.

Akina Ze didn't hold back either, taking a bite and instantly filling his mouth with juice.

Sure enough, sitting by the kotatsu and eating oranges in winter is the best way to enjoy the winter, and Akina Sawa also had a satisfied smile on his face.

"Sister Wenwen, I want one too! I want one too!"

"Little glutton, I just gave you a whole one, isn't that enough?"

Beside her, Nikua and Aya's voices drifted in as if in a dream.

Gollum~

An untimely sound woke Akina Sawa from his dream. He touched his stomach and realized it was the source of the noise.

Yes, it's lunchtime, time to eat. After all, oranges won't fill you up.

"You haven't eaten yet, have you?" Akina Sawa said contentedly, nestled in the kotatsu.

“I haven’t eaten yet. Sister Wenwen said she’d wait for you to eat together,” Nikua said, licking her fingers which were still slightly stained with orange juice.

"There's no need to wait for me. You can eat by yourselves if you're hungry." Akina Ze also showed a touch of emotion on his face.

“How can that be?” Aya Shameimaru said, lying on the kotatsu with her face turned to the side. “I’m here to eat, not to cook.”

Akina Sawa, who had expected Aya Shameimaru to go along with the atmosphere and speak up, fell silent for a moment, apparently waiting for me to cook...

Her stomach was still protesting, so there was no time to argue. Although she was very reluctant, Akina Sawa still crawled out of the warm kotatsu and headed towards the kitchen.

As soon as he entered the kitchen, Akina Ze's eyes lit up.

The neatly arranged bottles and jars, the spotlessly clean iron pot, and the meticulously scrubbed stove—who did all this? Akina Ze was quite surprised.

Reaching out to brush my hand across the stove, not a speck of dust remained on my fingers; it was so clean I almost didn't want to cook on it.

Only a great fairy could do that, right? Akina Sawa still remembers what she looked like in her maid outfit; she was far more impressive than those lowly fairies in the Scarlet Devil Mansion.

The unexpected surprise cheered Akina Ze up quite a bit, as he hated things like washing pots and dishes.

Humming a little tune, Akina Ze took out an apron from the cupboard and tied it around his waist. He needed to put in some effort to clean the kitchen properly; he couldn't let down the great fairy who had cleaned it so thoroughly.

With practiced ease, Akina Sawa rinsed the pot with water, placed the potatoes, potatoes, and potatoes for dinner on the cutting board, and began preparing to cook.

Just then, a crashing sound came from behind. Akina Sawa turned around and saw Aya Shameimaru standing by the rice steamer. When she saw him looking over, she even gave him a peace sign.

"When did you arrive?" Akina Sawa asked in surprise.

“I’ve been here the whole time. You were probably too focused to notice me.” Aya Shameimaru shook her head.

"Okay, I really didn't notice, but today I can finally taste what your cooking tastes like," Akina Ze replied with a smile, stroking his chin.

"Don't laugh at me if it doesn't taste good!"

"No, how mushy can the rice get?" Akina Ze said nonchalantly, quite satisfied with the quality of his rice.

"That's what you said."

"Don't worry," Akina said, pressing his hands together in a gesture of reassurance.

After a brief exchange, Aya Shameimaru decided to leave the kitchen; there was nothing else for her to do at the moment.

Just before Aya Shameimaru was about to leave the kitchen, she suddenly said, "The little tune you're humming is quite nice." Then she left without looking back.

"..." Akina Ze also blushed deeply...

If you have no woman in your heart, the knife will fall swiftly.

Soon, shredded potatoes, steamed potatoes, and potato with chili peppers were all ready. That's all for tonight's dinner.

With the food ready, Akina Ze no longer needed to interfere with the rest. After calling the two fairies from the living room to the kitchen, he took off his apron and quickly wiped his sweat.

Still reeling from that remark, Akina Sawa deliberately sat down diagonally opposite Shameimaru Aya, not wanting to sit next to her.

Dong~dong~dong~

A knocking sound came from behind.

Akina Sawa, who was looking down and waiting for the fairies to bring him the bowls and chopsticks, looked up in confusion and saw that Aya Shameimaru had moved to the opposite side of him and was tapping the table with her knuckles.

"What? So shy?" Aya Shameimaru teased.

"That spot is too hot." Akina Ze also chose to reply randomly after reading the message.

Just as Aya Shameimaru was about to launch a further offensive, two fairies returned, one carrying dishes and the other carrying bowls and chopsticks.

"Time to eat~ Time to eat~" Nikua hummed an off-key song, skillfully picking up the rice spoon and scooping rice into her bowl. "One bowl for myself~ one bowl for Akina-nii~ one bowl for Daijō~ and one bowl for Aya-nee."

To the strains of this off-key song, a bowl of rice was placed in front of everyone, and Aya Shameimaru naturally blended in as well.

Without much conversation, the meal began.

When Akina Ze put the rice in his mouth, a look of surprise appeared on his face.

The rice was cooked perfectly today—not sticky, not dry, just right, and it retained its full aroma.

However, since they were supposed to eat and sleep in silence, Akina Sawa didn't ask Shameimaru Aya on the spot. Instead, he gave her a thumbs up, and Shameimaru Aya picked up a piece of potato and smiled in response.

A meal eaten in silence goes by quickly; in no time, the potatoes on the plate were gone, and the rice pot was empty.

Just as Akina was patting her belly with satisfaction, Aya Shameimaru, who was sitting opposite her, suddenly said, "It's too late outside, and there might be danger. I'll stay here tonight."

"Oh, no problem then." Akina Ze subconsciously agreed, but he quickly realized something was wrong, looked up with a shocked expression, "Wait? Miss Wenwen, what did you just say?"

“I said I’m staying here tonight!” Aya Shameimaru said, each word distinct, making her meaning clear.

Chapter Sixty-Four is probably not

What a tiger and wolf word.

Akina Sawa initially thought he had misheard, but Aya Shameimaru's subsequent explanation made him realize he hadn't. She really was staying at his place that night, sleeping in this not-so-large bedroom...

Akina Sawa panicked for a moment, but Nikua wasn't. She exclaimed with delight, "Yay! Wenwen-neechan, let's sleep together tonight and have a pillow fight!"

As Nikua spoke, she gestured as if throwing a pillow. She had always wanted to play like this, but there weren't enough people, and Akina Sawa wouldn't cooperate with her.

Now that she has a chance, Nikua doesn't want to miss it.

“No problem, I’m not afraid even if both of you come at me at once.” Aya Shameimaru’s brows relaxed and she smiled.

"Hey, Miss Wenwen, don't join in their nonsense." At this moment, Qiu Mingze finally came to his senses and quickly stopped the group when he saw them about to have a pillow fight.

We only have a limited number of pillows at home. If one gets broken, we'll have to buy a new one. We don't have that much money to waste.

"I don't care, I want to play, I want to play!" Seeing that Akina Ze also objected, Nikua immediately lay down on the spot and started to act spoiled.

"Wait! Wait a minute!" The noise gave Akina Ze a headache. He said, "Nikuya, your bed is only 1.6 meters long. Miss Wenwen probably can't fit in it."

"Huh?" Hearing that the initial conditions had not been met, Nikua froze and stopped rolling on the ground.

Seeing that the situation had stabilized, Akina Sawa said apologetically to Shameimaru Aya, "I'm sorry, Aya-san, I only have two beds at home. Nikua's bed is too small, so you may not be able to sleep in it."

This was the result of his careful consideration.

Emotionally, he agreed to let Aya Shameimaru stay; after all, no one would object to sharing a room with a beautiful girl, right? But rationally, he couldn't agree; there's no such thing as a free lunch.

Moreover, any immediate benefits will inevitably come with corresponding hardships, so refusing is the most appropriate course of action. Of course, the refusal shouldn't be too direct, lest it hurt her—unless, of course, it's possible to hurt her.

Akina Ze also felt intuitively that what was happening before his eyes was likely a conspiracy.

“It’s okay, don’t you have a sofa? You can bring it over and put it together,” Aya Shameimaru replied.

After a moment of silence, Akina Ze licked his lips and tentatively said, "The sofa isn't really a good option... It's easy to catch a cold if you sleep on it in winter."

Upon hearing Akina Sawaya's words, Shameimaru Aya did not immediately refute them. Instead, she lowered her head, stroked Niqua's smooth forehead as she lay on her lap, and said calmly, "Whether you agree or not, you know I'm very free today and can sit here indefinitely."

"Alright, alright." Seeing that Aya Shameimaru had been direct, Sawa Akina also stopped beating around the bush.

"I don't even know what's so great about this place that you're going to sleep here, and I bet you're planning to do that in the future, right?" Akina Ze said bitterly.

"Why does it sound like I'm forcing you?" Aya Shameimaru's cheeks were slightly flushed, possibly from the cold. She explained, "You're wrong. I'm just really free today! So I wanted to stay here and try something new."

"Then I hope you can have a completely new experience," Akina Ze said, completely resigned to his fate.

Just then, the voice of the fairy who was cleaning in the kitchen came out. Although it was a bit far away, it was still very clear: "Akina-nii, we're running out of paper towels in the kitchen."

"Are you out of tissues?" Qiu Mingze stroked his chin, suddenly remembering that there were still a few newspapers he had read in the living room cabinet. "Why don't you go to the living room and take a look? I remember there are still a few newspapers you can use first."

“Okay,” the great fairy replied obediently.

Then came the sound of small footsteps clicking on the floor, and the sound of a cabinet opening and closing.

Having resolved the issue of the great demon remotely, Akina Sawa turned around and noticed that Aya Shameimaru seemed to be acting strangely.

"You just mentioned the newspaper, right?" Aya Shameimaru asked, head down.

"Really?" Akina Ze also looked puzzled. "We ran out of kitchen paper, so I asked the Great Fairy to wipe it with newspaper first."

"..." Aya Shameimaru remained silent for a while, then looked up with a smile and said, "What were we talking about? Ah, was it about the pillow fight?"

"No way...we just..." Akina Ze hadn't finished speaking when a soft object was thrown at his face with impact.

He took it down and saw that it was a pillow. There was no doubt that it was thrown by Aya Shameimaru, whose hand was still out of her reach.

"Miss Wenwen, stop fooling around..."

Bang!

Another pillow slipped off her face, this time thrown by Nikua. She pulled at her cheeks with both hands and made a face.

"Alright... don't blame me for not holding back." Laughing, Akina Ze also retaliated by grabbing a pillow in each hand.

Just be happy, why think so much?

And so, an unexpected pillow fight began...

When the great fairy finished cleaning the kitchen, took off her apron, and went into the bedroom, she was immediately filled with question marks.

The floor was covered in feathers, and Aya Shameimaru was sitting on Sawa Akina's back with his hands tied behind his back, while Nikua was hitting him with a pillow.

"Don't look at me..." Seeing the great fairy enter the house, Akina Ze also turned his head away.

Unsurprisingly, Akina Sawa was also defeated in the one-against-two battle, and even his weapon (pillow) was taken away.

"Come play with me, Daisuke!" Nikua, engrossed in the game, invited the Great Fairy with a happy expression as she saw her walk in.

slap~

This time, the pillow hit Aya Shameimaru squarely in the face. Daiyousei picked up another pillow from the ground and said timidly, "It's not fair that the two of you are fighting Akina-san alone!"

"Pfft!" Seeing the pillow slide off Aya Shameimaru's face, Akina Sawa couldn't help but laugh out loud, but because his hands were still tied behind his back, he could only praise him verbally, "Well done, great fairy!"

The pillow fight has started again this night, this time it's two against two...

Happy times always pass too quickly. Before long, the two fairies had exhausted their energy and lay motionless on the bed.

Lacking the main force of the game, Aya Shameimaru and Sawa Akina also stopped playing.

After quickly cleaning up the mess from the pillow fight, Akina carefully carried the two sleeping fairies to their crib.

"Go to sleep," he said, turning to Aya Shameimaru.

"Hmm." She nodded.

The stillness of the winter night soon descended, and Akina Sawa tried to shrink to the innermost side of the bed, leaving most of the space to Shameimaru Aya.

Just as he was drifting off to sleep, he suddenly heard a soft voice in his ear.

"Thank you."

Then came the rustling sound of someone getting out of bed, the door opened, and then closed.

On the bed, Akina Ze also opened his eyes and stared silently at the ceiling.

......

Chapter Sixty-Five: Confession, or...