My luck is really bad.
Regardless of how everyone felt, the graduation ceremony still ended.
Ayatsuki Ayaka walked off the stage.
Holding back tears, the moment she saw Takahashi Saeko and the others, they gushed out all at once. She rushed forward and gave the three of them a big hug.
"Wah, no matter what, we're good friends, sisters for life!"
Takahashi Saeko didn't retort as usual. Instead, she hugged her back and said seriously, "Mm."
After a while, Ayatsuki Ayaka let go, wiped her tears, and asked, "What do you all plan to do next?"
Before, she hadn't asked this question, as if delaying it could somehow prevent this moment from coming.
But she couldn't avoid it.
Farewell was always waiting ahead of her.
Takahashi Saeko shrugged and said, "I'm planning to resign from the Kendo club of the young miss and continue my career as a street cleaner."
Tama Chan said with a smile, "For me, using my parents' money to open a bakery, remember to come by and support me."
"Mm."
Ayatsuki Ayaka nodded and turned her gaze to Miyahara Kaoru.
She smiled and said, "I'm going back to Hokkaido to take over the farm. What about you?"
Ayatsuki Ayaka scratched her head and replied, "Naturally, as a treasure user, I'll continue to fight against the followers of the Four Great Evil Gods, preventing their emergence in the subspace."
"I meant, are you not getting married to Aozawa and continuing like this?"
"I shouldn't bring up things like that."
Ayatsuki Ayaka frowned slightly.
Among so many people, it seemed wrong to be the only one marrying Aozawa.
She had to take into account the feelings of Sister Chitose and the others, and not be selfish.
Takahashi Saeko said with a smile, "You could all get married together. Wearing a wedding dress is something that only happens once in a lifetime.
As long as you don't register, just hold the wedding."
"That's right!"
Ayatsuki Ayaka's eyes suddenly brightened.
Previously, she hadn't thought of something like this, her mind filled with the idea that getting married alone was wrong.
But as long as everyone wears wedding dresses together, then there's no problem!
...
Hojo Shouko hadn't graduated yet.
She and Natsuka Yanagimachi were strolling on the school road, thinking about Aozawa's speech on stage during the graduation ceremony.
And the scene of those kendo club members surrounding him.
From now on, she wouldn't be able to create those water-filled memories with Aozawa-senpai here and there.
Hojo Shouko thought as her phone suddenly rang.
She unlocked it to see a message from Ayatsuki Ayaka, "Shouko, what do you think about us organizing a collective wedding?"
Natsuka Yanagimachi leaned in, looking at Ayatsuki Ayaka's message with a face full of astonishment, "A collective wedding?"
Hojo Shouko typed back, "Sister Iroha, bigamy is illegal unless you get Sister Chitose to amend the law."
"Oh come on, don't be so rigid. We won't register it, just hold a private wedding and invite people we know. Don't you want to wear a wedding dress?"
Ayatsuki Ayaka's words didn't stir up any feelings in Hojo Shouko.
On the contrary, Natsuka Yanagimachi beside her took a deep breath, gripping her shoulder and urging, "Shouko, quickly agree to her, just say I agree too, but she still needs to convince the others."
Seeing her say this, Hojo Shouko replied according to her words.
As for wearing a wedding dress, she didn't care at all, nor did she understand why the two of them had such a fascination with wedding dresses.
But if they wanted it, Hojo Shouko wouldn't oppose it.
"Alright, I knew you guys would support me."
Ayatsuki Ayaka was full of excitement. She intentionally chose to speak with Hojo Shouko and Natsuka Yanagimachi because they were most likely to agree.
She pulled them on board first to form a majority and then persuade the others to agree to this plan.
The next person likely to agree was Sister Chitose, then Arakawa Reina.
Lastly, it was the young miss, Emily.
Considering their relationships, Ayatsuki Ayaka decided to let Hojo Shouko inform Emily, and Natsuka Yanagimachi inform Arakawa Reina.
She would then persuade Sister Chitose and finally discuss the collective marriage with the young miss.
Ayatsuki Ayaka had even thought about where to hold the wedding. Didn't the young miss's family have an island?
The collective wedding would be held at the castle on that island.
Thinking about her appearance in a wedding dress, Ayatsuki Ayaka couldn't help but let out a cheeky smile.
That silly grin made Miyahara Kaoru and the others realize that the plan was very much successful.
Click, Miyahara Kaoru captured her silly smile.
Ayatsuki Ayaka came back to herself and said, "Kaoru, I wasn't ready, what are you taking a picture for? Delete it, I'll pose again."
"No need, this is the most natural."
Miyahara Kaoru laughed.
This piece of emotion would forever be buried deep in her heart until the day she died.
She hoped Ayatsuki Ayaka would always be as happy as she was today.
...
At the same time, in a mansion in the Setagaya District, Emily was sitting on a chair on the open-air balcony.
The warm sunlight spilled from the sky as blue as washed blue, and she looked at Katerina lying on a lounge chair.
Her long golden hair was tied up, draped over her right shoulder.
Her belly was prominently bulging, as if a large watermelon was inside, indicating she was pregnant with her fourth child.
Her whole expression had changed, filled with the radiance of motherhood, entirely lacking the sharp aura she had as a mercenary, even when she was her bodyguard.
Emily couldn't help but sigh, marriage really can change a woman.
"What are you planning to name the child?"
"Depends on whether it's a boy or a girl. Takeo said he wanted to leave a surprise and decide after it's born."
Katerina touched her big belly and glanced at Emily, whose petite figure and flat chest and abdomen showed no signs of anything unusual.
"So many years have passed, and you've never taken any precautions, yet still haven't conceived. It seems like there's a reproductive barrier between angels and humans."
"Ah, don't mention such sad things."
Emily sighed deeply.
Seeing Katerina pregnant with her fourth child made her naturally anxious.
But there was nothing she could do. Even Morimoto Chiyoda, who had been with Aozawa longer than she had, showed no signs of pregnancy.
If it were just one person, she could chalk it up to her own problem.
But if several of them showed no signs, it indicated the problem lay with Aozawa's seed.
The land was good.
But the seed was not planted in the ground.
The hope for children seemed bleak.
Katerina, seeing her troubled expression, smiled and said, "Didn't I say you could be the godmother of my child?"
"I wasn't thinking about that."
Emily smiled bitterly. She didn't just want a child. She thought about how she, Morimoto Chiyoda, and the others were all ordinary people who would eventually leave Aozawa's side.
By then, who could accompany him?
She hoped to leave behind their flesh and blood, to maintain a familial bond between Aozawa and the world in the distant future.
To prevent his isolation.
But clearly, this was something she couldn't explain to Katerina.
As Emily wanted to change the topic, her phone suddenly made an alert sound. She glanced at it, and her small face showed a hint of surprise, "Oh, a collective wedding?"
After speaking, she thought back to three years ago, seeing the scene of Katerina getting married, in that white wedding dress. To say she didn't want to wear it at all was a lie.
This was an important memory too.
Feeling tempted, Emily typed back, "Okay, I agree."
"What's going on?"
Katerina curiously tried to get up, her movements a bit clumsy.
Emily jumped up in surprise, hurriedly holding her back, "Your belly is so big, don't move around.
Just sit down, it's that Shouko said Ayatsuki proposed a collective wedding, and she and Hana agreed to it.
Including me, that's four of us now. I think they should agree too.
After all, who doesn't want to wear a wedding dress?"
"Is that so, I have to take part in the wedding planning and be a bridesmaid!"
Katerina sat up and waved Emily's hand away, "Don't hold me like this, the more you do, the more I feel incapable.
I'm not that delicate.
The baby is just eight months, not ready to be born yet; the focus is your wedding."
"Okay."
Emily couldn't do anything about her, so she could only satisfy her desire to manage the wedding.
