By the ti Aiden returned to the shrine, it was already after midnight, and it was Kusanagi Aoi who had brought him back.
After saying goodbye to Kusanagi Aoi at the gate, Aiden walked toward the shrine office with slightly heavy steps.
'Today… was really an exhausting day.'
In the morning, he'd accompanied the three won of the Hakkesshu, plus Mature; in the afternoon, he'd spent ti with Asamiya Athena; in the evening, he drank alcohol, then took care of Yagami Tsukihi for a long ti, almost got beaten by Yagami Iori, and at the very end, ran into the already self-conquered Kusanagi Aoi.
If this were an ordinary man, he probably would've collapsed long ago.
Even for him, it was a bit too much.
"Looks like for a while I need to focus on recuperating. If this keeps up, sooner or later I'll be drained dry by them… uh, no, that probably won't happen. My body is forged from iron."
Muttering quietly to himself, Aiden arrived at the residential area of the shrine office. He first glanced at the Kagura sisters' room. There was no light inside, they were already asleep, which made him breathe a sigh of relief. Then he walked straight to his own room, opened the door, and went in.
But as soon as he stepped inside, he slled a familiar woman's body fragrance. It wasn't from the Kagura sisters, their scent was more light and elegant, whereas this one was extrely alluring and seductive.
Turning on the light, Aiden's gaze landed on the raised quilt on the bed.
He tugged at the corner of his mouth helplessly. Of course, he knew who had co.
"Looks like I won't be sleeping tonight."
Sighing inwardly, Aiden turned the light back off, then walked toward the bed while taking off his clothes.
As he lay down by the bed and lifted the quilt, a pair of bare arms wrapped around his neck, and a pair of generous, snow-white breasts, slightly more impressive than Shermie's, were pressed together against his chest.
"Aiden, I've been waiting for you for a long ti."
A seductive voice sounded by his ear.
Then the quilt was pulled back over them.
Tonight was destined to be sleepless.
———
In the blink of an eye, more than half a month had passed.
During the remaining ti, every team that received an invitation began their final preparations, so training, so focusing on conditioning their bodies, all in order to secure a good result in the second King of Fighters tournant.
According to intelligence from the Kagura family's information division, this tournant was different from the last one. In addition to the eight teams from the previous event, the number of participating teams had increased. That girl nad Rose had sent out a total of eleven invitations.
If you added the one that hadn't yet been given to Aiden, there would be a total of twelve teams in this tournant.
As for the newly added teams, Aiden was already aware of them.
There was the Hell Band Team, ford by Yagami Iori, Yashiro Nanasake, and Chris.
There was the Harem Team, ford by Shermie, Mature, and Vice.
There was the Tsuki–Aoi–Kasumi Team, ford by Yagami Tsukihi, Kusanagi Aoi, and Todoh Kasumi.
As for the final team, Aiden still didn't know who its mbers were. He only knew they were from South Town. Given how completely chaotic the current storyline had beco, anyone could show up.
However, aside from these twelve teams, Aiden had also heard that the organizers planned to send out a team of their own, to appear as the final act and face the champion team in an exhibition match. Win or lose, it wouldn't affect the champion team's ranking.
When Aiden first heard this, he thought Rugal planned to participate with his son and daughter. But thinking about that girl nad Rose, who looked only thirteen or fourteen years old, her strength was still too weak. And although Rugal was a villain, his goals were relatively simple, and he cherished his family deeply, especially his daughter. So in the end, Aiden guessed that Rugal's teammates were soone else.
But given the current situation, who was most likely to beco Rugal's teammates?
That was a very hard question to answer, so in the end, Aiden stopped bothering to guess. Anyway, if he made it to the finals, he'd see them then.
Once that issue no longer bothered him, Aiden ended up being the most relaxed of all the participants. As for everyone else, most of them were busy training.
That let Aiden breathe a sigh of relief, because the previous period had really worn him out.
But sotis people are just like that, once the won started being busy and didn't bother with him as much, he instead beca bored, wandering around aimlessly all day.
And so, a few more days passed like that.
On this particular day, Aiden was at the Todoh-ryu dojo, watching Yagami Tsukihi and the others train.
Honestly, Aiden wasn't surprised at all that Yagami Tsukihi had chosen Todoh Kasumi as a teammate. After all, there wasn't much deep-seated hatred between the two of them, they'd only fought each other a dozen or so tis.
What really surprised him was that Yagami Tsukihi had actually invited Kusanagi Aoi.
After all, the grudge between the Yagami and Kusanagi families went back hundreds of years. Whenever mbers of the two families t, they always ended up fighting, fights that decided both victory and life or death.
What's more, just a few days earlier, Aiden had been invited out by Kusanagi Aoi to drink, and they'd been unexpectedly spotted by Yagami Tsukihi, who happened to be working part-ti at a nearby convenience store. If Aiden hadn't desperately tried to stop it, the two won almost started fighting on the spot.
Even though it didn't co to blows, Yagami Tsukihi and Kusanagi Aoi still exchanged a round of cold sarcasm, just like when Yagami Iori and Kusanagi Kyo t.
After the argunt, the two of them were also unhappy that Aiden had gotten close to the other, and they "ignored" him for a few days… though, of course, they still kept in contact by phone.
So when Aiden heard that Yagami Tsukihi's team included Kusanagi Aoi, he once thought he was dreaming.
Even now, watching Yagami Tsukihi and Kusanagi Aoi sparring in the training ground, Aiden still felt a sense of unreality.
"Well, it's better if the harem stays stable. As long as they don't actually fight, a little jealousy doesn't matter."
Thinking that, Aiden happily took another sip of tea.
The tea had been brewed by Todoh Kasumi, but the taste wasn't very good. The high school girl's personality was rather carefree, or rather, a bit reckless, and she often made mistakes. At least it was drinkable… and that was about it.
Besides the tea, there was also a plate of fried at patties on the small table in front of Aiden. They were Todoh Kasumi's favorite. The innocent girl always shared her favorite food with her friends.
Picking up a at patty, Aiden took a bite and nodded. Just as he was about to take another bite, he suddenly frowned.
At the sa ti, Yagami Tsukihi and Kusanagi Aoi stopped in the training ground.
"Sister Tsukihi, Sister Aoi, what's wrong?"
Seeing the two won stop, Todoh Kasumi asked in confusion.
But the red-haired girl and the short-haired mature woman didn't respond. Like Aiden, they both turned their heads toward the entrance of the Todoh-ryu dojo.
And at that mont, a tall figure shrouded in a black aura invisible to ordinary people walked in.
"Aiden, we et again."
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