Shinji Matou at Your Service

Given Akiha's proud, no, rather coldly arrogant personality, it wasn't in her nature to greet someone in such a manner. Normally, Shiki would ring the doorbell, Kohaku would open the door and bring him to the living room, and then, in a rather chilly manner, Akiha would utter something devoid of any reunion atmosphere. She would emphasize the house rules, assign Hisui to her brother as his maid, and they would have a silent dinner.

Akiha knew this method was terrible and hated herself for arranging things this way. But in the end, she couldn't help but do it like this—because she truly didn't know how else to face her beloved brother.

As a result, even though both sides missed each other, the atmosphere turned awkward due to this wrong approach, creating an artificial barrier, which was simply ridiculous.

Fortunately, Akiha had two excellent advisors. One was the insightful Touko, and the other was Shinji, who knew the Tohno household inside out. With these two around, there was no way Akiha would greet Shiki in the wrong way.

For family members who had been separated for many years, the first thing to do was to ease the sense of estrangement that time had brought. The most effective way to do this was to recreate past memories, making him feel that nothing had changed. Once the sense of estrangement was mitigated, their interactions would become much more harmonious.

Therefore, the two specially designed the previous scene, even at the cost of violating guest etiquette, having two guests go out to greet Shiki. This was to make sure the three girls he remembered most vividly would appear simultaneously, giving him the strongest sense of déjà vu.

Shiki's expression proved the success of this design very well. Seeing that gentle smile, just like in childhood, Akiha, Kohaku, and Hisui all felt much better.

With such a foundation, this reunion after seven years was destined to be beautiful and warm.

Of course, due to two unexpected guests from Mifune City, there were still some minor hiccups.

The heir of the Ryougi family, Ryougi Shiki.

Upon hearing this name, Akiha's expression instantly became sharp, and her aura turned cutting.

She clearly remembered what Shinji had told her—there was a woman named Shiki who had a very good relationship with her brother, and the two had become sworn siblings.

Initially, she thought Shinji was teasing her, but it turned out to be true.

The future head of the Ryougi family had come from Mifune Cury just to bring Shiki back to the main house. Even real siblings might not do this much.

Moreover, seeing Shiki's gender-neutral beauty, Akiha felt an unprecedented sense of crisis.

Though Akiha herself was a beauty, and their figures were similar (both being flat), the harmony between Shiki and her brother was too perfect, as if they were family, while she felt like an outsider. How could Akiha, who had loved her brother since childhood, tolerate this?

On the other hand, Shiki's attitude also became somewhat strange. The Ryougi family was the largest existing exorcist family, while the Tohno family was the leader of the demon exorcist. Normally, Shiki couldn't care less about such boring factional conflicts, but since Akiha showed hostility, she wouldn't back down.

If it weren't for Mikiya intervening to ease the tension, these two most formidable women in the Japanese mystical world might have fought on the spot. As the emotional intelligence ceiling of the Nasuverse, Mikiya quickly saw the root of the conflict. While feeling happy for Shiki, he also found it somewhat amusing.

The way to ease the tension was simple—he placed the wedding invitation in front of Akiha and stood beside Shiki with a face that looked like an older version of him. Looking at the invitation in her hand, then at the two men who looked like real brothers, Akiha immediately realized her mistake—of course, this was also because Mikiya had a low presence and Akiha's attention was completely drawn by Shiki.

With the misunderstanding cleared up, the atmosphere improved, and Akiha's attitude took a 180-degree turn.

How could it not change? Shiki Tohno truly regarded Mikiya and Shiki as his brother and sister. As long as Akiha still liked Shiki, she wouldn't leave a bad impression on the two. Her enthusiasm drew multiple glances from Shiki, and Shinji and Touko, watching from the sidelines, couldn't help but chuckle.

"She's fallen in."

"Yes, she's fallen in."

"What about Hisui and Kohaku?"

"They've changed too, though not as obviously as Akiha."

"It seems we didn't make a wrong step."

Thus, the matter of Shiki returning home finally ended perfectly.

After a sumptuous celebratory banquet, Shiki and Mikiya left the Tohno residence and returned to neighboring Mifune town. As the wedding approached, they had more and more things to take care of, not even having time to stay for one night.

Shinji and Touko also wisely left the mansion, leaving time for the brother and sister and the two childhood friends.

What happened afterward, only the four people in the mansion knew.

A few days later, Kohaku had an old white ribbon added to her hair, Hisui became Shiki's maid, and Akiha began secretly preparing to transfer from the all-girls school to Shiki's high school.

In Touko's eyes, the colors of their souls became increasingly gentle, and the atmosphere in the Tohno household improved markedly.

Perhaps it wouldn't be long before the accumulated decay and gloom of many years would be completely swept away.

Of course, none of this had much to do with Shinji. The day after Shiki returned home, Shinji left the Tohno household with Arcueid and boarded a train to Fuyuki City.

Having witnessed the reunion the previous night, Shinji's longing for home grew stronger. Although he hadn't been away for long, so much had happened during that time that he felt utterly exhausted. This feeling was somewhat alleviated after seeing Touko, but it hadn't truly gone away because this wasn't his home.

He needed to go home, back to the place that belonged to him, where he felt safe.

Perhaps sensing Shinji's unusual mood, Arcueid unusually refrained from being willful. Apart from sleeping, she listened to Shinji talk about various trivial matters.

Thus, the two got off the train and arrived in an unremarkable small city—Fuyuki City.

They strolled along the increasingly bustling Shinto shopping street, occasionally buying snacks from the street vendors.

They paused on the iconic Fuyuki Bridge, watching the ever-flowing river rush towards the sea, before finally descending the bridge and entering Miyama Town.

Unlike Shinto, Miyama Town remained unchanged, just as it always had been.

Familiar roads, familiar street scenes, familiar air, familiar shops, familiar passersby.

Surrounded by so many familiar things, Shinji's steps became lighter.

After crossing two streets and turning a corner, the most familiar place came into view.

"Is that your home, Shinji? It looks pretty nice," Arcueid said with a bright smile. At this moment, however, Shinji's smile was even more radiant than hers, his genuine emotions radiating an unparalleled warmth.

"Yes, this is my home. Come on, let me introduce you to my family."

He gently pushed open the unlocked door, took a deep breath, and shouted loudly.

"Father, Mother, Uncle, Sakura, Fujino and Justeaze, I'm home!"

Immediately, various sounds filled the old mansion.

Upstairs, downstairs, the living room, the kitchen, the backyard…

There were the sounds of slippers pattering, chairs scraping the floor, and exclamations of surprise.

"Brother's back?"

"You little rascal, you finally remembered to come back!"

"Finally, you're home."

"Why didn't you call ahead?"

"Shinji, welcome home."

Hearing these familiar noises and looking at this most familiar scene, Shinji's eyes inexplicably grew moist.

It's so good to be home.

Really, so very good.