Round Two

"Here you go Lu~!" Makoto cheerfully served a bowl of their concoction they call food.

Ei on the other hand, took the hint and used this opportunity to reconcile with Orihime.

"Forgive me for my outburst earlier. I was simply taken aback by my husband's selflessness." She apologized in a roundabout way to the Kitsune, before serving her in the same manner as her sister.

"It's fine. I was foolish for not seeing through such a simple trick... But I take it this is not the first time he did such a thing?" Orihime asked in worry.

"Yes. He always had it even during his own training regime. Which is quite irritating since it meant that he's underestimating my perception as his wife." The Shogun threw a cute tantrum.

It seems like even with her surveillance puppets gone, her hobby of watching him carefully never changed.

"You could say that Lu has the history of not being honest." Orihime gave a light hearted joke.

"You're absolutely right!" Ei pouted, before the two started giggling at the notion.

...

"See? They're much closer than you know. You're mostly with Chiyo back then so it's natural that you're oblivious to their relationship." Makoto quoted smugly.

"So it seems... But that didn't stop you two from keeping an eye on me, right?" Lu countered with a smirk.

"Mou! I'm not as crazy as my sister, alright?!" She started hitting him lightly in retaliation.

"Is that really true? I wonder~..."

"It is! Ei-chan was the one behind everything back then, okay~?" Makoto started pinching his cheeks.

"Alright, you win. I give in." The deity wanted to wave the white flag when he realized how close they were to each other.

Makoto couldn't help it and directly stared at him cutely to receive his permission. But Lu shook his head, as they were currently in a meeting. There was also a single bystander here, after all.

The lady was downtrodden but immediately brightened up, as if coming up with a great idea. She hinted once again, except this time, it was at the bowl of miso soup, and the deity nodded.

"Carefully... Lu!" Makoto stared at him with expectation. She was currently holding a scoop of their polished product.

"Ahhnnn..." She slowly directed it into his mouth, and he accepted it without much thinking.

"How is it?..." The former archon nervously asked.

"It's delicious!... 𝘐𝘵'𝘴 𝘦𝘥𝘪𝘣𝘭𝘦 𝘢𝘵 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘵..." Lu kept the other bit to himself.

"You two... Have some shame, won't you?" Orihime was bewildered to find the two flirting behind their backs.

Ei only stared at her sister with a blank look. In which, Makoto simply returned a smug smirk for her victorious endeavor in response.

"Dont be so envious. Here you go... Ahhnnn..." Lu offered. Surprisingly, it was targeted towards the sole Kitsune.

Hence the two ominous stares she received. Unfortunately for the twins, they misjudged the former Great Yokai.

"It's good." Orihime gratefully accepted his offer, before grinning at the two jealous females. Lu only watched how she would deal with this in amusement.

"If you really want to be fed, why not settle it in a duel? I'm sure that after it, your husband would love to reward the victor." The deity went grim at her suggestion. How the turntables...

"Fine by me. Now that I think about it, we never really had a chance to spar for like forever, Ei." Makoto eagerly accepted.

"Are you sure about this, Makoto? Don't come back crying to our husband later. But I guess that wouldn't be too bad of a consolation price for you." The twins were overly competitive for some reason.

Orihime successfully riled them up real good.

...

"I'm certain that you already know what I'm gonna say but I'll ask nonetheless... Why?" He questioned with a wry smile.

"Payback, of course. And I must admit, you look much better with a troubled expression." The foxy lady answered with an ambiguous smile.

"Hmm? This is probably impossible, but... Are you perhaps hitting on me~?" Lu teased.

"Interpret it however you want." Orihime shrugged in response.

"I am sorry but I must refuse! I am already having a hard time managing two crazy wives. Plus more work for Inazuma awaits my return!" He gave a full ninety-degree bow in front of her.

"...You're annoying, you know that?" She curved her eyebrows to portray what she's currently feeling.

"Am I, now~?" Lu only grinned in response.

Which earned him a resounding smack in the back.

...

"Not using a polearm, Ei? You do remember that I was the original sword user among us, right?" Makoto brandished the wooden training sword in her hand.

"Consider this my handicap, big sister~." Ei sarcastically provoked as she brandished the same choice of weapon.

...

"They appear to be starting anytime now." Orihime stated after seeing the fire in the eyes of the twins.

"Is that right? Let me take some precautions just in case..." Lu started creating barriers right away.

"... This is way too much, Lu. We are already inside your domain. Casting ten different barriers when they're only using wooden swords seem overkill..." She said in confusion.

"That doesn't stop them from using the elements though. So I'd say this much is needed." He replied with his usual smile.

The sound of battle suddenly emerges in front of them. Dust covered the surroundings, yet it didn't stop them from seeing a high concentration of electro as it went on.

The first barrier didn't last long as it was broken...

"See?" Lu beckoned as he sipped his tea once more.

"It wasn't this fierce back then..." Orihime uttered. And the second barrier was obliterated.

"You gave them the goal. So, this is entirely your fault..." He shrugged.

"Do you have a knack of driving women crazy?... 𝘐𝘧 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘥𝘰, 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘐 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘦 𝘤𝘢𝘳𝘦𝘧𝘶𝘭." She did her best to keep calm.

The sound of cracks was heard and the third barrier turned to dust as the deity fell into deep thoughts.

"No way! It's not like most women I'm close with went crazy-"

𝘍𝘭𝘢𝘴𝘩𝘦𝘴 𝘣𝘢𝘤𝘬 𝘵𝘰 𝘢 𝘒𝘪𝘵𝘴𝘶𝘯𝘦 𝘸𝘩𝘰 𝘮𝘢𝘥𝘦 𝘢𝘯 𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘳𝘦 𝘯𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘴𝘱𝘰𝘶𝘴𝘦, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘢 𝘕𝘢𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦 𝘚𝘱𝘪𝘳𝘪𝘵 𝘸𝘩𝘰 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘰𝘣𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘩𝘶𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘴*

"Nevermind..." And he never delved into that ever again...

***

I'm halfway through Sumeru and I'm happy that I predicted two things, right.

The first is that they have their own status system, though not as complicated.

Second is the fact that Katheryne will finally have a more active role in the story.

I'm having a chapter dedicated to her too, which is really near, so I'm grateful for any additional information I can get.

***

Gimme all them powerstones. It might give me luck so I can win my 50/50 for Daddy Zhongli.

Peace!