About two hours had later passed after Steely along with his other family members helped out Shiranui, his mother, in preparing for a feast for Amber and it was about three in the afternoon now.

  Shiranui insisted that both he and Stella should enjoy the festivities going on so that they can ease their minds off from any nervousness or pressure that they might be feeling before Steely’s Blood Transfusion Ritual starts in the evening.

  So when the “twins” had managed to help out enough in the preparations for the feast, their mother had forcefully shoved them out of the door and told them to not come back until they have fully enjoyed themselves with the festival spirit.

  “Ugh…” Stella groaned as she let out a sigh.

  “Even though I still wanted to help out with preparing for the grand feast for Onee-chan, mom just threw us out of the house like a pack of garbage.” She added.

  Steely let out a small chuckle before speaking.

  “Well even if we didn’t wanted to help, mom would just throw us out anyways since it is that time of the year again. And besides, we both know that if mom didn’t shoved us out of the door, we would still try and insist on helping with the feast.”

  “Onee-chan is about to come home from the capital’s academy after being away for so long, so of course I want to help out and make sure that this feast is marvelous! Is it so wrong for a lady to help out for the sake of her big sister?!”

  Stella complained and Steely patted her back to comfort her.

  In all honesty, he feels the same way as his “twin sister” does. He wants to help out with preparing for Amber’s feast as well since it really has been so long since they’ve seen each other, but he also thinks that enjoying the festival might help out with clearing away any dark clouds still roaming above their heads.

  It was a hard decision for him.

  But when their mother insisted that they enjoy the festive atmosphere, there was really only one answer left for Steely: to enjoy the Nine Fox, Nine Tails Festival.

  This festival was said to have hailed from the old ancient times of the world where primordial beings of their species and of others had once existed. This particular festival was said to praise their very first ancestor, the very first Foxian and Kitsune Spirit of the world: Tomoe Akane.

  Ancient history scriptures said that when Tomoe first appeared into the world, flames of both blue and red in color appeared and burnt down through different large forests throughout the world.

  And that whenever those flames died out, new thick and stronger roots and trunks grew and transformed into the cherry blossom trees that surrounded the whole entirety of the Akane Clan’s property that everyone sees today.

  It was also at this time that the World Spirit Tree started to first appear.

  Some speculate that the roots that appeared after Tomoe’s flames were the cause of the tree’s growth, some say that it was the Goddess of Creation that was the one that made the tree grow.

  Even up until this day, no one really knows the truth behind the World Spirit Tree’s sudden appearance.

  The other reason why it was called the “Nine Fox, Nine Tails Festival” was because after Tomoe’s initial decent upon Arcadia, she was able to split herself into nine different foxes of different colors that have different personalities that she managed to achieve after roaming around the world.

  Those personalities being: Happiness, Sorrowful, Vengeful, Slyness, Mischievous, Wholesomeness, and Passionate.

  Each of these foxes all have different colors and a single tail that corresponds within each emotion, and thanks to this, Tomoe had managed to explore the world a lot more efficiently and quickly.

  Her influence grew different throughout the different places she has been because of the differing personalities, but that doesn’t remove the fact that she had managed to commit good no matter where she went.

  It was because of this that the Goddess of Creation had found her worthy of receiving her blessing and has hence bestowed upon her the God Eye along with the power to transform between fox and human, which has also been passed down to her fellow descendants to the Foxians of the Akane Clan.

  “It was also said in the ancient scriptures that Gramps had me read in our library that Ancestor Tomoe was quite a powerful being in the bygone days that she was feared by strangers and her enemies a like.”

  Steely reminisced before returning his attention back to his “twin sister”.

  “We can’t do much about it now. We’re already out here, so might as well enjoy ourselves with the different stalls and games, no?” He suggested.

  “Besides, this is the day when our Great Primordial Ancestor: Tomoe Akane, descended into the world of Arcadia and graced these lands with her presence! As her great descendants, it’s our job to celebrate her descent and the blessings that the Goddess Neo gave to her that is now ours, no?” He added.

  “I guess you’re right on that, bro…” Stella sighed before straitening her posture.

  “Okay! So since we still have about an hour and forty minutes before Onee-chan returns home, let’s see what we can bother ourselves with throughout the whole entirety of the festival! So let’s begin!”

  Stella then grabbed Steely’s left hand, enduring the stinging pain of his cold body temperature, as she dragged her “twin brother” towards the Festivity District and find any stalls that they can bother themselves with.

  At Festivity District…

  Once the “twins” had arrived in the bustling streets on the Festivity District, Stella took in a huge deep breath before she let it all out in a big and massive huff.

  “Ahhh~… The Festivity District. It has been so long since I’ve been here! But looking at it, this district seems to be at an all-time-high right now.”

  “You should’ve seen how many people there was back then when I came here to look for the store where you wanted me to buy you candy as well as the time that I came here to eat at Yamori-san’s place. But now that I look at it, I think the number of people increased rather than decreased.”

  After he said that, Steely glanced at the different stalls that were all bustling with costumers from different countries along with the Foxians of their clan. There was a lot of different stalls and game areas that was completely stacked with people that he didn’t know where to go and what game to choose to play.

  “So… Any ideas on where you might want to go and start first?” Steely asked Stella when he turned his head around towards her.

  “I don’t know where to even begin with all the people around here…” Stella admitted and Steely nodded as he replied:

  “If we start wandering around without any ideas on where to begin, we might look like lost animals and never get through around the crowd. Not to mention the fact that we might get robbed with so many people bumping into each other.”

  “And let’s not forget that there is a small chance of us getting kidnapped without getting noticed within these crowds.” Stella added which got another nod from Steely.

  As both Steely and Stella were standing in the middle of the street, pondering on which stall they’ll go first and begin their fun, Stella caught a small glimpse of black hair and a pair of yellow eyes of a child the same height as hers running away on her right side.

  But just as she was about to turn to look at the child, the child was already gone. She glanced around from right to left, from north to south, but she didn’t saw the child anywhere anymore.

  But she was certain of one thing though: the child that she saw just now was a boy.

  “Stella... Stella... Stella Akane.”

  When Steely called her name three times in a row, she let out a slight yelp and jumped a bit in her place which caused for a brow to raise on Steely’s worried face.

  “You alright there, sis? You’re mind seemed to went somewhere for a while when I called you.”

  “W-Was I really…? Sorry, bro… A-Anyways, what were you saying?” Stella asked as she tried to shake off her thoughts from earlier.

  “I was saying that maybe we should start going to the snow cone stall and get something to cool us off from the heat before we start going wild at the different game stalls. What do you think? You alright with it?” Steely asked.

  “Sure thing! I could get something to cool my head off. Mom’s training has made my head get headache after headache every single time we finished, so something cold to eat would be nice. Also…”

  Stella tapped Steely’s left shoulder and a sly smirk crept on her face as her eyes let out a small spark. Steely knew that his “twin” was about to do something that he didn’t asked for once again.

  “You’re paying for my portion once again, bro~.”

  “I knew you were going to say that. Can’t even let my wallet catch a break whenever I’m around you, can I?”

  Steely groaned before a small smile appeared on his face and Stella’s smirk only grew bigger at the sight of her “brother’s” look. Steely merely rolled his eyes before gently hitting her on the head with a chop of his left hand, which stung her from both the coldness of his body temperature and the slight pain of his chop.

  The two then shared a small laugh before Stella gently chopped him on the back with her right hand as payback for what he did before they went to the snow cone stall to buy themselves something eat to cool themselves off.

  And of course, it was Steely who had to pay for the both of their snow cones; much to his dismay and Stella’s cheeky giggles right after.

  Thirty minutes later…

  “Ngh… Ah~…”

  Stella let out a light moan as she stretched her body forward.

  Steely let out a small yawn right after her and cracked the bones of his neck.

  “We did a lot of activities despite only being here for a short while, huh?” Stella asked as she took a bite of her dango.

  “Yeah. And if anything, I’m only tired because we’ve been running around everywhere while we go to different stalls.” Steely replied before taking a bite on his own dango.

  They soon stopped—or rather—Stella suddenly stopped as she saw Steely suddenly halt and started staring at the different daggers on one of the mask stalls that also sell different variants of daggers and knives.

  “Didn’t you already buy a mask earlier? Are you planning on buying another one or are you going to buy another dagger for your collection?” Stella asked.

  She then leaned forward and eyed the different daggers and knives on the rack in front of her.

  “You haven’t bought a new dagger in a long while after all.”

  Steely shook his head before answering his “twin”.

  “No. I’m not going to buy a new dagger, at least not one that doesn’t interest me. I’m merely looking at the different variants to see how different the daggers are outside of our clan.”

  Steely asked the store owner if he can grab one of the daggers on display, and once the store owner nodded his head in agreement, Steely took in a close sight on the unique jagged design of the dagger.

  “Although I collect different daggers as a hobby, my real objective is to have a collection of different weapons—mostly swords though. Daggers are small and easy to carry around, so I usually only buy them. But if I get the chance to buy a sword—.”

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  “You’d buy it in an instant.” Stella finished Steely’s sentence.

  Steely nodded his head.

  “Yup. I’d buy that sword in an instant. Besides, I’m not just collecting them, I’m also training with them from time to time with Gramps. And with so many of them in my collection, I’ve never ran out of any weapons to use to train.”

  He then placed the dagger back on the display rack.

  “But today’s not the day that I buy another dagger for my collection. Gramps was right, now that I think about it. I do have far TOO many daggers and swords and far TOO many masks in my collection. So I’ll try to restrain myself today.”

  Stella giggled at his words.

  “Well~, there are times when you just couldn’t help yourself and suddenly buy a new mask, dagger, or sword out of impulse. I can’t blame you though, I too do that at times whenever I try to restrain myself to buy sweets.” She admitted.

  Both Steely and Stella then turned around and walked away from the mask stall and kept talking to each other while walking.

  “We’re quite similar in that situation then. But I am starting to think of buying a different type of weapon than what I usually buy. Maybe I should buy a naginata or polearm-type weapon next?” Steely wondered.

  “Where are you going to put that? With how long a polearm-type weapon is, not to mention the varying size of their tips, your room is going to become cramped in no time.” Stella informed.

  The boy pondered about his “sister’s” words very carefully before he nodded his head.

  “Now that you mention, you’re probably right on that one. Guess I’ll just try to hold myself back if I do find a polearm that interests me. Either that or I’ll just stick to daggers and swords.” Steely admitted.

  “Stick with daggers and swords for now, bro. Dad would probably get mad at you if you buy a lot of polearms one day and made your room look like a small armory whenever someone enters.” Stella replied.

  “And just from that mental image alone, I just know that Gramps would start a stupidly loud laugh if he saw my room like that.”

  Steely slumped at just imagining Enrei entering his room looking like a small armory with different types of weapons.

  That battle-hungry old man would definitely not just laugh at that ridiculous yet hilarious sight, but Steely knew that Enrei would also be interested in the different weapons and would use some—if not all—of them during their trainings together.

  Collector benefits from the enthusiastic, it would seem.

  Steely and Stella continued walking around the Festivity District in silence and passing by different person to different person.

  From the stalls that they were passing by, it would seem that they’ve entered the “Fashion Street” of the Festivity District. A place where most of the latest fashion trends and different clothes unique to the Akane Clan are all located at.

  Although the two weren’t nearly as enthusiastic with fashion—unlike their big sister, Amber—they still have some fashion sense that are unique to the both of them.

  While Stella was looking at differently designed elegant kimonos and beautiful handmade jewelries that ranged from necklace to earrings to bracelets, Steely was looking at differently designed yukatas and haoris along with shirts from normal t-shirts to long-sleeved ones that had various designs themselves.

  They barely go out to buy any new clothes since they have enough to wear that can last for about two weeks—minus three to four days if there are any special events or gathering—so this is a chance for them to see if they find something new that catches their eyes.

  “Which design would fit with Onee-chan perfectly?” Stella thought as she scanned the various kimonos.

  “Onee-chan likes pink and red together and has always favored vine-like patterns rather than the usual cherry blossom patterns that are in most of kimonos. So maybe I should pick…”

  Stella scanned throughout the various kimonos once more before she finally found what she was looking for.

  The kimono that she found was elegantly designed with red vines that had small thorns and yellow petals with the main color of the base being pink. If one were to look at it, the design would look like a small thorny flower garden had wrapped itself around the whole kimono.

  “This one should fit Onee-chan perfectly!”

  Stella exclaimed excitedly before she grabbed a folded piece of the kimono inside a plastic bag and started walking towards the stall owner.

  “Excuse me! I’d like to buy—!”

  She stopped when she caught something shine at the corner of her eye before she decided to lean in closer to the item.

  It was a box that had six octagram-shaped earrings with small hanging chains inside. The earrings’ base color was gold but its secondary colors varied within each piece.

  One has the color of red, the second had light blue, the third had pink, the fourth had orange, the fifth had violet, and the last one had yellow.

  With six of these earrings and with six of them in the family, Stella just couldn’t miss this chance to buy a box of matching earrings for her and her family.

  So with one quick swoop of her hand, she grabbed the box and went towards the stall owner once more.

  “Excuse me! I’d like to buy these please!” Stella presented the items to the stall owner.

  “Alright then. That would be about… two silver coins and five bronze coins, young lady.”

  The stall owner, who was an old woman, said as she grabbed coins that Stella had presented to her with an open palm.

  “Do you want those items to be placed inside a bag, young lady? From the looks of it, it’d be a struggle to carry those on your own.” The stall owner suggested.

  “That’d be much appreciated, ma’am. Thank you!”

  Stella accepted the offer and the stall owner grabbed a single medium-sized paper bag and placed her items inside the bag before old lady handed it to her.

  “Here you go, young lady. Take care on your way out now. Young ones such as you should be careful, especially at festivities like these that attract a lot of outsiders.”

  Stella giggled at the stall lady’s advice. Although she knew the old lady meant no harm, it wasn’t bad to take in the advice of your elders carefully in the back of your mind just in case.

  “I’ll do just that, ma’am. No need to worry about me! Goodbye now!”

  And just like that, Stella left the old lady’s stall with a smile on her face as she skipped throughout the bustling streets to find Steely.

  “Now… Where is the stall that Steely said he’d be in? He said he’d be in a yukata store further into the north of the kimono store that I was at, right… So…”

  Stella then started walking further into the north side in hopes to find where the stall that her “brother” said that he was in.

  While she was at it though, she glanced around at the different stalls that she came to pass upon. Although she did already managed to get the once that she needed the most as a gift to Amber, a little “extra” wouldn’t be too bad now, right?

  “Would Onee-chan enjoy a bit of chocolate?” She pondered.

  But despite her pondering, Stella just went to one of the stalls that sell chocolate and grabbed a small rectangular box filled with those sweet delicacies and paid for them before she left the stall.

  “Onee-chan may not have as strong of a sweet tooth as both me and Steely, but I know that she still can’t resist these sweet and sugary deserts!”

  The grin on her face was clear to see, and to everyone that passed by her can clearly tell what she was thinking inside that head of her.

  “I should hurry up now. Can’t let my bro wait for way too long.”

  Stella placed the chocolate box inside the paper bag where the kimono and jewelry that she bought earlier was placed and ran towards north once more.

  Five minutes later…

  “Oh! There he is!”

  After about five minutes of running, Stella reached Steely’s location without much hindrance and was about to call his attention but stopped when she saw that he was talking to someone.

  “Who’s… that girl…?”

  She wondered as she stared at the silver white haired beauty in front of Steely. From the looks of it, the lady was about the same age as their big sister Amber.

  She was about to call Steely again but stopped once more when she saw the same black hair and yellow eyes that she saw pass by her vision earlier.

  She immediately turned and saw the full image of the boy.

  “W-Wait! Y-you’re… that boy from earlier.”

  The boy in front of her had a pair of eagle-like yellow eyes that added an intimidating look when combined with his black hair. He was wearing a black robe that had yellow feathers around the shoulders and he had brown leather pants and leather boots that covered his shins.

  “S-Sorry… Do you know me…?” The boy asked nervously.

  The two continued to stare at each other in silence, not knowing on who should speak first and this kept going for a while before Stella decided to take the initiative.

  “Do you… want to get something sweet to eat?”

  It was an awkward question to ask at a situation like this, but let’s just say that Stella still didn’t know what to say. So she merely suggested that out of the blue as a first step to try to get to know the boy better.

  Some friendships can start from a conversation with food, right?

  With Steely…

  Steely was waiting for Stella to arrive a few minutes ago as he managed to finish his shopping a lot earlier than he expected, so he was just standing there ever since he finished and waited and waited for Stella to arrive.

  He was carrying two paper bags gripped on his right hand and glanced around from left to right to try and catch a glimpse of Stella.

  When he about to run out of patience from waiting and decided that it was maybe a good idea to return to where Stella was to meet her on the road—.

  “Hey~… It’s good to see you again, Little Steel~.”

  A familiar voice called out to him with the same teasing tone as the one he heard back then at Yamori’s restaurant.

  Steely then turned to his right and saw the same silver white haired beauty that he once encountered while he was dining at his favorite restaurant. But it seems that she was alone this time.

  “Sorry, maybe I shouldn’t call you by that nickname anymore. You don’t like being called by that name anymore, don’t you Steely?” She asked with a small smile.

  “You’re… Tenshi, right? Tenshi Tengoku?” Steely asked.

  Tenshi’s smile grew slightly as she leaned forward with her hands behind her back.

  “It seems that my little sister told you about my name. Although, I guess it was to be expected since she also said that you told her your name.”

  Tenshi replied before taking a few steps forward until she was about ten meters away from each other.

  “Say… Do you want to have a small chat with me? Take it as my own sign of wanting to get to know each other better.”

  Knowing that Stella wouldn’t be here for a while, Steely agreed with a nod.