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The sound of another book being slammed shut and thrown to the side in a frustrated manner resonated across the quiet study room. Jubei looked over at Konoe’s frowning face as he closed shut what must have been at least the twentieth cardboard box. Concentration and frustration clouded her face, she shook her head and muttered to herself quietly; Jubei reasoned the book clearly did not contain what she was looking for.
It had been three months since the end of the Dark War. The whole world had cheered and revelled in victory, then breathed a collective sigh of relief, and now in their third month after the end of that horrifying apocalypse, grim reality had begun to set in. Efforts to repair the once-great cities of the world were well under way, with Ishana putting their greatest minds on the task of reconstruction. Ishana was Konoe’s home, a city of magic protected by a newly erected magic barrier that kept the Black Beast’s seithr out. Safe as it may have been from seithr, the physical state of the city of rubble and ruin spoke for itself.
Konoe, or Nine as she was known among the sages, was one such great mind put to the job of restoring her home. Jubei didn’t know much about her area of expertise, he preferred the sword over the pen, however he did understand that fixing things was not Konoe’s speciality when it came to magic. He saw her terrifying power for himself when they first fought all those years ago. Konoe was to somehow create a spell that could restore Ishana’s buildings and structures to their former selves.
“What good is any of this crap!? The entire library goes down in fire and what do those idiots manage to recover from it!? Divination spells no better than a phone call!”
She groaned loudly in frustration, tossing yet another book in the growing pile to her left. Leaning back in her chair, she ran her fingers through her hair and took in a sharp breath. Jubei looked over at this sympathy-inducing display; he wouldn’t be surprised if grey hairs began to grow out right this very moment.
“Hey… darling…” he said gently as he laid down the box he carried, “You feeling alright?”
“Yes, sorry dear… don’t mind me. All my moaning and complaining isn’t doing anything to help, I’m just distracting you from tidying up here aren’t I?”
Jubei shook his head.
“No darling, not one bit. We should take a break, hmm? No sense in wringing ourselves dry.”
“No no, it’s quite alright. You’re doing just fine and making real progress, I don’t have any excuse for the sorry state of our cit-”
“Honey.” Konoe felt a soft touch on her hand as Jubei laid a paw on her. “Let’s have some coffee together. Lots of sugar, just how you like it.”
Jubei beamed an earnest and gentle smile. Despite being sat on her chair, Jubei still found himself looking up at her. Konoe paused for a moment. Looking at the caring face of the man she loved so much, she couldn’t help but return the smile. Her foul mood was broken.
“You’re right dear, let’s.”
*********
The two sat in pleasant silence with each other, seated at a simple table with the curtains drawn open next to them. The gentle light of the evening moon streamed in, colouring both of their faces with an equally gentle blue hue. Konoe took a large and appreciative sip of the coffee Jubei made for her; an excess of sugar just how she always liked it. A big smile adorned her face now, almost a grin in fact, as she watched Jubei take small sips of his plain green tea.
“Not too hot is it, dear?” she asked him with a teasing tone in her voice.
“C’mon darling… that was just one time…” he trailed off, “But uh… yes, it’s really good. Thank you.”
The two of them always made it a point to make their drinks for the other, it was one of the many ways they showed their fondness for each other. Konoe still liked to tease him about the first time they had tea together at a café. Jubei uncharacteristically didn’t think to check the temperature of the piping hot drink the waiter gave him, and subsequently became a sputtering and coughing mess.
“Oh honey, we’ve been dating for so long now and I still never get tired of your cute face~” she said, resting an elbow on the table and leaning in to look at Jubei closer.
He grew slightly red in turn, “W-well, you’re a real looker yourself dear. I don’t get tired of you either.”
Konoe simply kept staring at his face as he spoke, her eyelids drooping down in a relaxed manner.
“C’mon honey… what are you just staring at me for?”
Her grin grew wider, then with her other hand she suddenly reached out and pinched his cheek, wiggling it back and forth as she giggled.
“H-hey! Alright alright, I get it! I’ve got a real cute face!”
Nine let go of his cheek, seemingly satisfied at making him grow even redder. A brief silence passed and Jubei’s expression changed from one of embarrassment to nervousness instead.
“What’s wrong dear? Normally this is the part where you complain about how handsy I always am~”
Jubei averted his gaze for a moment before looking back at Konoe’s smiling face.
“W-well dear… I’ve been thinking…”
“Hm? About what?”
“I… uh… well…ahem…” he cleared his throat again.
“Oh come on honey, I don’t like it when people keep surprises from me! Is it some kind of present~?” she replied in an impatient but still cheery way.
“N-no, it’s uh… it’s…” he began to trail off before reminding himself despite how much he tended to be embarrassed by her, even this was way too uncharacteristic of him.
“Konoe. I want to have a kid.”
Konoe froze in place, the spoon she was using to stir her coffee clinked against the side of her cup. The noise sounded deafening in comparison to the dead silence that suddenly overcame the room.
“D-do you… do you mean that, honey?”
“Yes dear, I mean it. I’ve been thinking about this for weeks and weeks now, it’s all that’s been in my head every time I see you and talk to you… I want us to be a family.”
Tears began to well up in her eyes as she heard his earnest words and looked at his earnest face. Her lips started to wobble and her previously cheery grin grew into even bigger sincere smile.
“W-well I mean uh, you can think about it of course, I know that what I’m saying i-”
“OH HONEY! I WOULD LOVE TO!” she shouted out as she pounced across the table at him, grabbing him into a giant hug and spilling her coffee all over the table.
“H-hey honey! Watch your drink! It’s spilled all over th-” he started as his face got smothered into her embrace, then decided that it simply didn’t matter right now.
Tears now flowed freely from her weepy self as she rocked him back and forth in her awkward half-table-hug. Jubei smiled in relief, realising he was worried and nervous over nothing.
“Oh honey, oh honey, I love you so much! Yes, a million times, yes!”
She finally let go of him after a solid minute of hugging and sat back down, looking over at his completely flushed face. Her face was equally burning red from the tears of joy.
“And of course uh, that means getting married too… y’know…”
“Absolutely honey, I want us to get married as soon as possible” she replied, wiping some more tears from her face, “…Celica… she told me she wanted to build a church.”
“She did? When does she want it built?”
“Well… she wanted to do it right away but I told her it would have to wait ‘til later…”
The two of them exchanged knowing glances. Some things are too important to save for later. Like a simple ‘I do’.