--Thursday, September 3rd, 2172
"Nothing weird is going on; I just love my Kai too much…"
In the middle of the living room, Tomoko replied with her arms crossed beneath her breasts, pouting stubbornly at all the girls in front of her. At that moment, Momo turned to look at Kai, who was sitting beside Tomoko, and asked seriously.
"What do you think about this, Kai? Do you also think we're overreacting?"
Kai turned to look at Tomoko, who gazed back at him with an adorable pout and enormous teary eyes. After being struck by the puppy-dog pout, Kai turned to look at the others, who were watching him with serious, firm expressions, and answered in a calm voice.
"Well, maybe you are overreacting a little. I mean, it's true that Tomoko has been a bit more 'enthusiastic' lately, but it's not like she's become an addict who can't think about anything else." Kai turned again to look at Tomoko and asked with a calm, confident smile.
"Isn't that right?"
Practically becoming the very embodiment of guilt, Tomoko slowly turned her head away and looked at the floor, then answered in a low, timid voice while shifting her little feet uncomfortably.
"… Yeah… I think about other things too… Sometimes…"
Kai's expression hardened in real time at his beloved girlfriend's response, and he soon turned to look at the other girls in front of him, who were staring at him with blank expressions. Visibly uncomfortable, Kai cleared his throat a couple of times before speaking in a more serious voice.
"A relationship as complex as ours inevitably entails atypical situations and problems that require creative approaches to address them. After all, the human psyche is far too complex, to the point that today, after centuries of exhaustive research, we're not one step closer to truly understanding it. This inevitably…"
"Don't try to weasel out of this; it's important."
Seeing that Kai was using one of his old strategies to wriggle out of a difficult situation—giving a grandiose, empty speech to confuse/bore everyone else—the girls rolled their eyes, and Momo quickly cut him off with a firm, dry voice.
"Yes, darling, we can't keep putting this off." Ryuko quickly said in a worried tone while watching Tomoko marvel at how large the marble slabs on the floor were.
At that moment, Nemuri stood up from her spot and hugged her beloved from behind, then said in a sweet, affectionate voice while looking worriedly at Tomoko, who had begun tracing the lines connecting the floor slabs with her fingers.
"I know you're not a big fan, but it would be good to seek professional help, sweetheart. What do you say, Tomoko? Would you be willing to try it?"
"… I-it's not that big a deal… Really…" Tomoko replied with her head bowed, not daring to look at the others. Nejire, sitting on the other side of Kai, said in a confused voice.
"I also think about Kai-chan all the time and want to have sex all day, every day. That's not weird."
Keiko looked at Yumiko, who nodded at her with a grateful smile, so she nodded back before looking at Nejire and saying in a calm, gentle voice.
"Nejire, are your 'urges' so unbearable that you feel you can't study or patrol in peace?"
"… Well, if I think about Kai-chan a lot, I get the urge to hurry home…" Nejire replied somewhat thoughtfully. Keiko smiled maternally and asked.
"And does that happen to you all the time, every day?"
"No… Not every single day."
Nejire replied with a voice of slight realization as she looked at Tomoko, who lowered her head even further like a turtle trying to hide in its shell. At that moment, Shino cleared her throat, drawing everyone's attention, then spoke in a serious voice.
"Well, getting back to the topic, even though I think it's good to seek professional help, our secrets aren't something we can share with just anyone, so we have to think about it very carefully."
"That's true. Maybe we should try to do something ourselves first." Yumiko said in a thoughtful voice, at which point Ryuko raised a finger in the air and suggested, looking at Nemuri.
"I remember you used to look up psychologists, architects, and lawyers to ask them things for your books so you could say it's for a new story and ask professionals for advice."
"That's not a bad idea…"
Nemuri opened her eyes in surprise and murmured, at which point Kai reached out to take Tomoko's hand. But instead of taking his hand, Tomoko covered her mouth with her hands before standing up and running off while murmuring in a choked voice.
"I'm sorry…"
"""…"""
Witnessing the scene, everyone fell completely silent, looking at one another with confusion written across their faces. Even the cats, who were grooming one another not far away, stopped dead to look. But just moments later, Kai got up from his spot and ran after Tomoko, which helped the girls snap out of their stupor and then hurriedly follow him.
…
In a matter of mere instants, the group was in front of the open door of the nearest bathroom, where they could see Tomoko on her knees on the floor. She was vomiting as if her soul were about to come out of her mouth. Once Tomoko finished vomiting, Kai embraced her and, as a beautiful fairy materialized above her, asked in a soft, worried voice while wiping her mouth with a handkerchief.
"Do you feel dizzy? Does anything hurt?"
"Yeah… Everything's spinning… I feel sick…"
Tomoko murmured in a weak voice as Sage's wings changed color rapidly above her. Shino, who had run into the spacious bathroom with the others, crouched down and tucked a strand of hair behind Tomoko's ear before asking with concern.
"Did you eat something strange out on the street?"
"No… Just what we had for lunch and Kai's 'things'…"
Tomoko replied softly as she let her head drop against her beloved's firm chest. Ryuko also crouched down in front of Tomoko and, likewise using wet wipes to clean her, remarked worriedly.
"You didn't have breakfast this morning because you were full; it might be that."
"… It's not that; I've done it before, and nothing happened~"
Visibly pale, Tomoko showed a subtle, lustful smile and replied while drawing little circles on Kai's chest. At that moment, Keiko looked at the bathroom and covered her nose before commenting in a serious tone.
"Let's get out of here first."
"I'll call Rin to take care of this."
Momo added, likewise covering her nose, at which point Kai, with an unusually solemn expression, lifted Tomoko up like a princess and left the bathroom while looking at the beautiful fairy above her.
The fact that Sage had been silent for so long boded ill, worrying him to the point that in his left hand there was already a golden card bearing the image of a winged sphere of light. Meanwhile, his right hand glowed with a bluish light.
Upon seeing Kai, the girls instantly understood the gravity of the situation and followed them with solemn expressions. But at that very instant, everyone could see how the beautiful fairy's face turned pale and her eyes widened in surprise for a few moments before becoming sharp and dangerous. At the same time, an electric flash cracked in the air, and dark flickers began to appear on her dress.
Almost instantly, Kai's eyes sharpened as well, and his entire presence went from being worried and vigilant to resembling a sharp, dangerous sword about to kill. Meanwhile, the air around him grew heavy, sharp, and hard to breathe, and black electric flashes began to crackle in the air.
Witnessing such a scene, the girls' hearts leapt and began to pound at full force with equal parts fear, uncertainty, and worry. But before any of them could even ask what had happened, Sage deflated like a balloon and turned to look at Kai with absolute stupefaction written across her beautiful little face.
For his part, Kai furrowed his brow and looked at the confused Tomoko in his arms while trying to examine her body carefully and extending his observation haki to the maximum. But neither in the surroundings nor in Tomoko's body did he feel anything that would justify Sage's reaction, which had thrown him into combat mode knowing that it was something serious.
"What happened?"
After finding nothing, Kai finally looked at Sage and asked in confusion. The beautiful fairy, still stupefied and with her wings glowing intensely and changing color faster than ever, looked at her master for a few moments before answering in a heavy, incredulous voice.
"Tomoko is pregnant…"
""WHAT?!!!!!""
The news dropped like a bomb among the girls, who exclaimed in unison with their eyes about to pop out of their sockets. For her part, Tomoko exclaimed in unison with the other girls and looked at Sage as if she were seeing a ghost.
Meanwhile, Kai stood utterly petrified, while his mind, still in the middle of the shock, rationalized Sage's actions. It hadn't even occurred to him to look for a pregnancy, so it probably hadn't occurred to Sage either, which meant that when she discovered it—most likely by chance or by process of elimination—the first thing she felt was disbelief.
But this soon gave way to rage; after all, the contraceptive method they had developed together was infallible, so the logical thing was to assume an infidelity. Likewise, even though rage consumed her, Sage, being the reliable assistant she is, checked the fetus's DNA anyway in order to have proof before speaking, and her expression at the results left only one possibility. Tomoko was expecting a child of his.
"How…?"
After his overwhelmed mind reached a conclusion, Kai fell to his knees and looked at his equally stunned assistant to ask in a voice laden with the purest, most unconcealable disbelief. Feeling that her mind was barely managing to function, Sage looked at her master and replied in a heavy, raspy voice.
"I don't know… It's completely illogical and irrational… But I've already checked it hundreds of times… It's real…"
"Sage… Are you serious?" At that moment, Keiko asked in a hoarse voice. Sage turned in the air to look at Keiko with an almost blank expression and slowly nodded her head.
Seeing the beautiful fairy's nod, Tomoko covered her fully open mouth with her hands as tears began to fall down her cheeks. But suddenly, Tomoko turned to look at the stunned Kai with her tear-stained face, full of insecurity and panic.
For his part, Kai, upon seeing his woman's weak and fearful expression, came to his senses for a moment, and his mind raced at full speed to find a solution. Finally, after a few seconds, Kai smiled warmly at the nervous Tomoko and said in a calm voice.
"We're going to be parents."
Upon hearing Kai, Tomoko broke down crying like a little girl and clung to her beloved's neck with all her strength. At that moment, Shino and Ryuko jumped in to hug Tomoko as well, with tears falling down their cheeks.
Meanwhile, Nejire turned to look at Momo, whose mouth was completely open, staring at Kai on his knees and Tomoko crying in his arms, hugging Ryuko and Shino. In the same way, Keiko turned to look at Yumiko, only to find her with her mouth open, pinching her arm.
Almost simultaneously, Yumiko and Momo looked at Keiko and Nejire respectively, at which point tears flooded their eyes, and, with heavy steps, they approached to hug them. Keiko and Nejire hugged Yumiko and Momo back, feeling enormous lumps in their throats.
Meanwhile, Nemuri stayed at the back, watching the scene with a lost expression. All kinds of emotions ran through her mind, from fear, confusion, and doubt to lust. Finally, Nemuri couldn't resist and ended up falling to her knees on the floor, at which point she bowed her head and covered her face with her hands.
The idea that her Kai—the boy she raised and who became the only man in her life, her one and only true love—had gotten another woman pregnant sent a literal tidal wave of emotions washing over her, leaving her in complete shock. To the point that drops of love juices and tears soon began to drip onto the floor in equal amounts.
***
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