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Twelve years have passed since the war with the Legion ended. The constant wailing of the dead had disappeared from Shinei Nouzen's life, and he lived peacefully with his wife and love of his life, Vladilena Milizé, and their two children. Well, technically his life was supposed to be peaceful, but…
"Papa, you are so funny! Do it again!”
…at this moment he couldn't really say that.
He forced himself to smile, but he couldn't hide how annoyed he was by the situation he found himself in. The cheerful request came from a silver-haired child sitting on the carpet in the living room of their house, surrounded by her friends from kindergarten. Shin looked into his daughter's crimson eyes, sighed slightly, and grabbed the cloth tied to the clown's butt.
"Aaah, he got me, he got me," the clown yelled, laughing and making fart noises with his mouth. The children seemed to be enjoying his show a bit too much. Shin wanted to bury his face in his palms or hit the guy with a shovel. Actually, the latter idea was very appealing to him. He was thankful that none of his acquaintances were here to see the Headless Reaper of the Eastern Front made fun of by a clown.
Well, his annoyance wasn't justified, because he was the one who thought it would be fun for the children to have this kind of entertainment other than the usual playing and eating cake. Of course, he was now cursing himself for coming up with this idea. Maybe eating cake and playing boring games would have been better than being teased with the most stereotypical jokes...
This clown apparently liked to choose an "assistant" for his show, and while he included the children, his main targets for his pranks were the parents. So if Lena had been here, it would have been more bearable, but she wasn't, because it turned out that their younger child hated clowns. Shin couldn't really blame him... When his son saw the clown, he started screaming and crying and no amount of soothing would work on him. So Lena hurried out with him, leaving Shin to deal with the situation. He could only watch Lena's departure with a stunned look on his face.
Since then, he has had to endure being shocked three times by shaking his hand, then having to pull a seemingly endless piece of cloth out of the clown's pocket. Then he started making balloon animals to give to the kids. Of course, he let Shin try, but he couldn't get the hang of it and kept popping them. The clown laughed at him, then sat him down on a small chair and gave him a small drum and drumsticks to play on to provide them with background music while he finished making the animals. Then he began to tell a short story about a big, grumpy bear with red eyes who tried to catch fish, but they kept slipping out of his hands. Shin felt a vein pop on his forehead as he realized the similarities between himself and the bear, but he wasn't in a position to voice his complaints.
And now the clown was back to his stupid, predictable jokes, which included the previous fart-pulling. Shin kept looking up at the clock on the living room wall. He silently thanked himself for not having hired the clown for more than 40 minutes, which were slowly coming to an end.
"Hahahah, okay everyone, it's time for face painting! I will paint your favorite animal on your face," the clown said with his hands on his waist and tapping his feet in excitement. Then he looked in Shin's direction, not bothered by his murderous look. "Daddy will get special treatment! Come here, quick!"
The clown pointed to a large, stupidly oversized toy clock on his hand and started singing a silly song to speed him up. Shin thought that beating him up with a shovel would be too nice a way to kill him, but when he saw the beaming face of his daughter, he tried to suppress his desire for bloodshed.
"Do it for her..." He whispered through clenched teeth as he dragged his feet over to the clown. The former Reaper of the Eighty-Six then endured painful minutes while the clown painted a giant butterfly on his face.
Finally, the day was coming to an end.
Lena sighed wearily as she put the toys away and gathered up the dishes that needed to be washed. The guests had already gone home with their parents, and her children were tucked into bed and asleep. She smiled as she thought about how excited they both were for the day. Especially her daughter, who really enjoyed the clown show. She kept telling her all about it and the funny looks on papa's face.
Obviously, Shin got the short end of the stick being the only adult in the room with this clown. When Lena finally managed to calm her son down and went back into the living room, the show was coming to an end, and she had to stop herself from laughing when she saw Shin's stone-cold face, with a clear intent to kill, covered by a giant sparkling butterfly. He looked ridiculous, but she was wiser than to comment on that.
As soon as she was done with her chores, she went back to the living room and sat down on the sofa. Lena thought about reading a bit, but her tired mind and body said otherwise. Her eyes slowly closed, surrounded by the comfort of the sofa. She would have drifted off to sleep, but then she felt that someone was sitting down next to her, and her eyes opened up.
"I brought you some tea."
"Thank you. Good work today. Especially with the clown. I heard you didn't have an easy time."
While she sipped her tea, Lena could still see some glitter on his face and shirt. Shin's face twitched at the mention of the clown. He thought a little about whether to say out loud what he was thinking or just stay silent, but then decided to go ahead and complain.
"That was the worst idea I ever had."
Shin buried his face in the palm of his hand and muttered something about "I should have sharpened the garden shovel". Lena couldn't help but smile.
"Well, I feel bad about leaving you alone with him, I really do. But it took at least fifteen minutes for our son to calm down. I tried to bribe him in every possible way. In the end, nothing really worked except for him becoming tired. At least the other children and our birthday girl really enjoyed the show." She said this with an apologetic look and then realized something.
"Oh, but at the end, it seemed like you had made up with him? He seemed to whisper something in your ear and then your mood instantly lifted and I think you even tipped him. What happened?"
She looked curiously at Shin, who just gave her a sideways glance with his crimson eyes. He thought for a while before giving his answer.
"Well, let's just say that he managed to redeem himself a bit."
Lena was left confused by this answer and tried to pry further, but before she could, Shin silenced her with a kiss. It was filled with his pent-up anger from that day, but also with a deep hunger and longing for her. She could feel her thoughts getting dizzy from the sweet sensation, but she sought him as much as he did.
His lips felt hot as they locked onto hers. He pulled away a little, but only to continue kissing the nape of her neck, slowly working his way down to the slit of her blouse. Lena gasped and squealed softly as each kiss threatened to make her lose her mind. A more rational part of her mind tried to express some reason before they went any further.
"Shin... uuhng... stop... we shouldn't... do it here."
But Shin didn't seem to care and continued to kiss her between her breasts. At this point, all Lena could do was pray that the children would stay asleep, and she silently lost herself in the sweet sensation as she buried her fingers in his soft hair. Then her fingers quickly moved and removed Shin's shirt. It was only fair, he had already removed her blouse with expert movements.
His lips slowly made their way down on her belly. Before he went any further, he slowly backed away and sat on his heels. Through the mist of joy she felt, she could see his crimson eyes glowing like fire. Shin grinned, then put his hand on the zipper of his pants and pulled it down. Lena's breathing increased and she watched with anticipation as he put his hand into the opening and then pulled out…
"I have a little surprise for you."
...a small plastic flower and handed it to her.
At first Lena didn't even realize what had happened and waited for him to continue, but then the euphoric fog of her mind began to lift and she kept looking between Shin's hand, his pants and the flower, trying to connect the dots.
"Ehhhhh???!"
Shin's mouth twitched as if he was holding back a laugh. Soon he couldn't keep it in any longer and burst out laughing. Lena stared at him in disbelief. He was laughing so hard that he could barely breathe, and when he tried to calm down, it only took one look at his wife to send him into another fit of laughter. Lena was still confused. But she quickly realized that she had been pranked.
"Oh, come on!! Y-You're the worst!! You jerk!!”
She sulked, which didn't help the situation, it just increased his laughter. It took him several minutes to regain his composure, and even then he had to look up at the ceiling to address her.
"I'm... bwhahaha... sorry... but your face... ahahahaha... was priceless. It was so worth it, ahahahha. That clown is the best, hahaha."
"I guess that was what he was whispering in your ear. Sigh... I have to admit, it was a nice prank."
Lena rolled her eyes and shook her head as she said this. She couldn't keep up her annoyance any longer and started to giggle as well. After a while they both calmed down and she cuddled up to Shin's chest while looking at the small flower in her hand.
"Well, actually he didn't tell me to do anything like that. It was all my idea. He just apologized for the pranks seeing how irritated I was and gave me some advice."
Lena blinked in surprise and looked up at him.
"What kind of advice?"
"He said that the key to a healthy and long-lasting relationship is to bring something new and surprising into it whenever possible. And to never forget to smile and find joy in the smallest things. Even if it's just some stupid prank." He shrugged as he looked into her argent eyes.
"Wow, that's actually…some great advice."
She nodded, impressed by the clown's wisdom. Shin smiled slightly and suddenly put one hand around her shoulder, the other under her knees.
"Aaaah?! Shin?!" Lena exclaimed as she was caught off guard by this. He was holding her in a princess carry and his hands were gripping her tightly. Shin then started to walk out of the room.
"Well, that's it for today's pranks. I'm done with them for a while, so let's pick up where we left off but this time in our bedroom."
Lena's face turned slightly red when she heard this, but she didn't protest. Instead, she put her hands around his neck and laid her head on his chest. Shin gave her a small, tender kiss on her forehead. Then he continued his walk.
Outside, the night sky sparkled with millions of stars. The night was quickly approaching its median. The full moon shone on a small flower on the living room table. Though life always had its challenges, they lived peacefully and happily now. Hopefully forever.