Shoufuku ✽ Setsubun Festival of Demons and Brothers | Deep Love - 1

[healingbonds]

Fumbling in the Dark - 6 << | index | >> Deep Love - 2


“Hiyoku Renri” (比翼連理) is also a four-character idiom, used to describe a couple deeply in love. This title becomes more meaningful in context when you understand the idiom. Hiyoku describes a mythical creature, hiyoku no tori, where two birds (one male, one female) have one eye (or head) and one wing each, and constantly fly as “one.” Renri refers to two trees (with different roots) growing close and merging.





Location: Connecting Corridor (1F)


Yuuta: Wait~! Aniki~! Out with demons, in with fortune~!


Hinata: Uu! Yuuta-kun is calling, he’s pleading me to “wait”! I want to wait for him~, I want to spoil him......!


Sora: Endure it~, Hina-chan? Turn your heart into a demon; ignore him, and run~♪


Hinata: Turn my heart into a demon! It’s setsubun, after all! Those are the rules.....

But~, onii-chan wants to do anything Yuuta-kun wishes for!


Sora: Nope~? We’re going to run this way, this way, this way ♪


Hinata: Wah, don’t pull me? Yuuta-ku~n, we’ll meet again once the “Setsubun Festival” is over, so! Sorry, for today, I’m going to run away, okay?


Yuuta: I’m telling you to wait! Ah, geez, I lost sight of him~!?

(Guh, as usual, he’s fast.... Actually, if aniki seriously focuses on running away, there’s no way someone like me could catch him)

(That person has always run away from me since we were children. I’m used to it. I can somehow find him and catch him every time, but)

(That’s because aniki went easy on me. Because I’d cry and wail, he would take pity on me and stop—that’s all)

(If aniki seriously ran away, I wouldn’t be able to catch him)

(We’ve repeated this same sort of escape drama many, many times. Every time, I think, maybe this time I’ll fail, and never meet him again....)

(It makes me anxious, aniki)

(Ah, geez, I’m angry! He doesn’t understand why he’s important to me, at all!)


Mao: O~i, Yuuta-kun! How’s the situation?


Yuuta: Ah, Isara-senpai.... Anzu-san, too, thank you for your hard work


Mao: There’s no need for greetings. More importantly, the situation is chaotic, and I don’t have a good grasp of what’s going on. Right now, Anzu and I are running around and trying to organize everything, but


Yuuta: Eh? You two are the “Setsubun Festival’s” supervisor and organizer; you shouldn’t be running around on the ground like this, right?

Leave that sort of work to the grunts~♪


Mao: That’s true, but nothing gets solved just by talking in the headquarters tent, so....

Seems like there are spy-like guys mixed in with the staff members

Confusing us by intentionally telling us false information and such

How should I put it—you don’t forget your past trade; I’ve always been in that sort of double spy position, so I noticed them, but

On top of that, Sakasaki and Sakuma-senpai were hit by beans and joined the staff, but.... It seems like those two are up to some kind of no good

Like, at a glance, they look cooperative, but they’re quietly plotting something

The “Setsubun Festival” is in its final stages, after all; there are an increased number of staff members who were formerly “demons”

Sakuma-senpai put those sorts of people in the palm of his hand in advance, when they were “demons”

In other words, the bugs in the lion’s body¹ are increasing at a tremendous rate. At this rate, we’ll be destroyed from within

So, before the situation becomes irreparable.....

I’m getting in touch with people that I can trust, like Anzu, and the Vice President, who was resting in the infirmary, then moving around and responding to the situation accordingly

I don't want this mockery to drag on; it would be a problem if this “Setsubun Festival” ended before we understood what was going on

[It would be a problem] For me, for Anzu, for anybody


Yuuta: Is that so.... Well, thank you for your hard work

But, is it all right for you to say that sort of thing to me?

I wonder if you think that I’m reliable~; I am a member of the light music club, so I’m under Sakuma-senpai, you know?


Mao: That’s true, but. Anzu said that Yuuta-kun was reliable, so

If Anzu believes in you, I will too; generally, Yuuta-kun is a good child who rarely causes trouble

Yuuta-kun, you’re close with Sengoku, right? He’s a good judge of character; if you’re Sengoku’s friend, you’re definitely not a bad person


Yuuta: Ahaha, you’re giving me too much credit~.... And Sakuma-senpai was hit by beans after all, huh

They pulled out that firearm-like thing, after all; I guess even he couldn’t withstand that?


Mao: N~.... That’s actually a little suspicious, too

It might seem normal for Ritsu to attack his older brother excessively, because he’s always angry at him, but

They’ve actually been getting along pretty well lately

Though it feels like a minor change; like, compared to last spring, they seem like they’ve gotten a little closer

They’d hardly been meeting face to face at school, but at home, they’d chat pretty happily, and cook meals together

I live close by and drop by often, so I know

Would they really have such a brutal exchange now? It ki~nda feels like they’re acting, or overemphasizing how badly they get along

I mean, this is just my impression, but

I think Ritsu knows his brother’s true intentions.... And is subtly helping him out so he won’t notice [that he knows]

You might think, “just be honest and help him out,” but. Ritsu is like a tsundere, or, a little child towards his older brother

....You Aoi brothers are the opposite; you’ve been acting so friendly with each other that it seems unnatural. Were you two always so considerate of each other?

Right now, you guys actually seem like strangers

Fumbling in the Dark - 6 << | index | >> Deep Love - 2



1. “Bugs in the lion’s body” refers to traitors who destroy an organization from within