Brain bloom

Mori made a few polite remarks: "Please give my regards to your father on behalf of Shiki. Although we've never met, the fact that he raised such a lovely daughter like you makes me think that even the devil isn't so scary."

"That lazybones didn't really guide me much, but I'll pass on the message. Mori, right? See you tomorrow... I look forward to a wonderful answer from you."

After she finished speaking, she lightly brushed her fingers across the air, and a stream of murky mist flowed out, cutting a passage like a door.

She took with her the finest wines from the Four Seasons Winery and waved goodbye to Senshi.

Volume 1 #084 - I Need Water

After seeing the guests off, Mori returned to the living room. Seeing that Dandelion was sleeping peacefully under Fukufu's care, his expression gradually relaxed.

Mori sat down on the sofa and touched her forehead, finding her spirits much better. Her temperature was slightly high, though, but it shouldn't be a problem; it was still within the normal range.

Relieved, Sen Shi prepared to do some housework, like washing the dishes. For a magician, washing dishes shouldn't be difficult; by combining basic spells, one could create something similar to a dishwasher.

But before she could get up, she was suddenly called back.

"Senji".

"Hmm? You should rest well and not talk."

"Where are the guests?"

"I've already sent it away."

"That's good... I'd like to drink some water. I feel a bit dizzy. Ugh, all sorts of emotions are swirling in my head, and I'm thinking about a lot of troubling things."

"Okay, I'll go pour it for you."

"Don't go yet." She raised two fingers and hooked them around Morishi's skirt again. "I haven't finished speaking yet. I also remembered a lot of good things, like meeting you."

Sen Shi wanted to ask if she wanted more water, but when she turned around, she saw that Dandelion's face was flushed red. Like a girl who had just experienced her first love. Innocent, shy, but incredibly sincere.

Stared at like that, even Mori felt her heart flutter, a subtle emotion churning within her. She forgot everything else—what was this feeling? What was happening to her? She had no idea, but the atmosphere was growing increasingly strange…

She tried to avoid Dandelion's hazy gaze, which was very alluring.

"You...you're sick...Let me water the flowers for you, that will help you calm down." Mori tried to find a topic to talk about.

"Yes, I like being watered by Mori."

Even though her pronunciation was unclear, her voice held a tenderness she had never shown before. After speaking, she hugged Morishi's waist and buried her face in her chest. The plump, lovely dandelions and leaves openly faced Morishi.

Sen Shi was even more puzzled. Why was she being so well-behaved and cute today?

Dandelion rubbed her face against Sen Shi's skirt and whispered, "Water it...water it, water it for me."

She must be drunk, Mori thought. But the fact that she's acting like this means she's not seriously ill.

Helpless against the drunkard, Mori had no choice but to use magic, conjuring a drop of water with his spiritual power and spreading it in his palm. With the fingers of his other hand, he combed through the silvery-white strands of the dandelion, finding the tender green roots and slowly watering it drop by drop.

"Mmm, it's cool... I've had enough water today." The dandelion happily rubbed against the glass a few more times.

With the hope of waking her up sooner, Mori continued with her daily care of the branches and leaves.

Her fingers stroked the leaves as if caressing a baby, patiently applying water to the branches and leaves, wiping both sides of the leaves, and cleaning the veins.

The leaves, after being moistened, were even greener and more beautiful, so beautiful that one wanted to kiss them—this was not a metaphor, but a thought that inexplicably lingered in her mind, refusing to leave her mind… to kiss them.

"Thank you," Dandelion said playfully.

"You're welcome. You can take care of it for me tomorrow."

The forest level had increased a few times, so the leaves seemed to have grown a bit bigger, and new buds were sprouting. Incidentally, the little salt sprite, seemingly unfazed, had already run outside to play—but no one noticed.

"It's very comfortable."

"That's right, my technique is pretty good." As he spoke, Sen Shi's fingers teased the dandelion leaves. "Alright, you get some rest, I'll go wash the dishes and then prepare for tomorrow."

"and many more."

"Would you like some water? Sure, sure, I'll get you some."

“No… thank you for staying with me and answering my call… I could never say these words enough.” She buried her face deeper and gripped her hands tighter. “I… hate being alone.”

The dandelion suddenly started sobbing, it was unclear what it was sad about or what it was venting.

She had become very emotional, or perhaps that was just how girls are. However, these words had been hidden in her heart for a long time, only revealed when she was feeling unwell.

After she finished speaking, she suddenly raised her head, released her hands from Sen Shi's waist, wiped away her blurry tears, and then climbed onto her shoulders.

She barely managed to sit up, looking over Mori's face—and offered a soft kiss to the strawberry leaf.

A sudden kiss caught Mori completely off guard.

The leaf touched the princess's lips, and Mori's body trembled slightly as if electrocuted. At the same time, his consciousness seemed to sink, becoming unclear... as if he had drunk half a glass of red wine, slightly tipsy.

"What... what are you doing? The leaves are dirty... don't do this..." Mori's face also turned red.

"This is a gesture of affection between people of the four seasons, is it unacceptable?"

“Yes…” she nodded gently.

"Well, good."

Dandelion could no longer support her body; her soft body went limp and she returned to Morishita's chest, nestled in her embrace.

Gazing at the dandelion swaying before her eyes, Sen felt a strong urge to get close to it—and before she knew it, she had already held it in her hands and kissed its soft, snow-white fluff.

She herself didn't know why she did it, but that was her instinct.

"Ugh, no, isn't it a leaf?"

The dandelion shook its body violently, as if it wanted to complain about something.

"He actually kissed...me..."

But before she could finish speaking, she couldn't hold on any longer and fell asleep. Her even, gentle breathing could be heard from time to time, but her hands remained clasped.

Mori's rationality returned with a sliver of a sense, and he vaguely felt that he might have come to the wrong place...

To show affection, perhaps she should kiss the leaves? With a somewhat uneasy feeling, she could only silently soothe the dandelion's thin back, as if guarding her own child to sleep.

This was probably the most uncomfortable night Moritoki had ever had. Dandelion's hands were very restless in her sleep, and her face was also unruly, constantly touching and rubbing against everything. Several times Moritoki wanted to wake her up—but could only give up.

Fufu brought over a blanket, and with her help, the situation eventually turned into one where Dandelion lent her thigh to sleep on. But Dandelion's hand rudely wrapped around Dandelion's thigh, and drool unconsciously dripped onto Sen Shi's thigh skin.

Mori spent the night in a terrible sleeping position, feeling agonizingly half-asleep. But every time she wanted to wake Dandelion, she would refrain from doing so upon seeing that sleeping face. She could only console herself that this was a princess's privilege.

……

Dawn finally arrived.

The dandelion woke up on time, looking energetic, and even stretched as usual.

"My whole body aches." She wiped the drool from her mouth and rubbed her slightly disheveled hair. "--Uh, Moritoki."

Mori nodded weakly, too weak to even speak.

“Mori, I remember, you… yesterday…” She shrugged and covered her mouth, clearly remembering everything that happened yesterday.

"Yesterday?" Mori opened one eyelid and saw Dandelion's shy and flustered expression.

"You don't remember? Uh... maybe I had a dream? No, no, no, then—I didn't say anything! I... I'll go make dinner!"

"It's already morning."

"Oh, then... then I'll go to sleep?"

"Aren't you already awake?"

……

(P.S. I made a huge mistake.)

I was supposed to remove the June bounty because I still owe a lot of updates—but!!! But!!! I forgot!!! I've received nearly a thousand monthly tickets so far, and I freaking think… I suddenly owe a lot of updates…

Volume 1 #085 Dandelions Are Strange

The dandelion looks really strange.

To put it metaphorically, it's like a dutiful child who's been using their parents' hand-me-down phone, finally unable to resist wanting to buy a new one to play mobile games. Otherwise, they'll be ridiculed by classmates, unable to keep up with the conversation about mobile games, and thus isolated. But their family's financial situation isn't good, making it difficult to ask for help.

The appearance of a dandelion is similar to this predicament.

"Princess, are you... feeling any better?"

Sen tried to break the silence by starting a conversation, but Dandelion just nodded without making a sound.

She stood there uneasy, and finally, blushing, she ran out of the living room before Senshi could ask her another question.

"I don't understand...why is this happening?"

It was just a kiss on her dandelion, wasn't it? In the Four Seasons, watering each other is considered closeness, kissing the leaves is a further level of intimacy, and as for kissing the flowers... Mori didn't dare to think any further, and she couldn't chase after her to ask.

There was one more unfortunate thing: after being slept on by dandelions all night, she had lost all feeling in both legs. Pinching or touching them was practically the same as playing with other cute girls' legs—she couldn't feel anything. Playing with her own legs for years—that's probably what it feels like.

As she played with her legs to get her blood circulating, Fufu, having just finished drinking the seawater that morning, flew back through the window.

"Fufu, come quick!" Sen Shi immediately waved.

"Does Sister Moritoki need my help with anything?"

"Um..." Mori spoke softly, like someone involved in illegal transactions, "Do me a small favor. Something's not right with our princess lately. Could you go and casually ask her what's causing her shyness, okay?"

Naïve Fu Fu felt she could help and immediately agreed.

Mori was still a little worried, so he added, "If she says, 'Because Mori kissed my dandelion,' then ask her what that means and whether it's a custom of the Four Seasons people."

"If that's the case, don't you know it yourself, Mori-sensei-neechan?" The light around Fukufu flickered with doubt.

"Well... actually, there are very, very complicated reasons behind this. If you help me with this, I can make you a new dress or something. Would you like a little skirt?"

"Thank you, but no need. I like what I'm wearing right now... And I don't want any payment. I'm just happy to be of help."

After saying that, Fufu flew away—but bumped right into a dandelion. Clearly, she wasn't going to cook; she was returning with an extremely ancient book that exuded a magical aura.

"Princess, Princess, Sister Mori asked me to ask you—"

"Cough cough!!! N-nothing, Dandelion, what's that book you're holding?"

"Mori...Mori Toki, this is one of the magics that we Four Seasons Masters agreed upon before, and now I'm lending it to you to read and learn." But Dandelion's gaze wandered, avoiding Mori Toki's eyes.

After thinking for a moment, Sen Shi remembered that it was a special high-level magic, Elemental Restriction, dropped from the Frozen Bear Town dungeon. It was monopolized by the Four Seasons Warriors, who were powerful many years ago, making it a valuable item for commerce, combat, and various other possibilities.