"So, you're telling me that someone actually created a Magical Beast capable of traveling through space and time, feeding on Dragon Veins… and then sent it to this era?" — Kojou asked quietly while eating ice cream with his daughters.
"Right. That's why we took the chance to use Revalon to come to this era as well," Mira continued with her graceful, charming smile — though to Kojou, it was clear that this girl was far more cunning than she appeared.
"I see… By the way, Mira, is your mother La Folia?" — Kojou asked with slight suspicion; Mira's behavior reminded him far too much of La Folia.
"Uh~ As expected of Otō-sama." Mira smiled happily at his words. "You're absolutely right."
"But, I don't think I resemble my mother that much, so I'm curious — how did you know?" — she continued, curiosity glinting in her eyes.
"Let's just call it intuition." — A strained smile appeared on Kojou's lips. He could feel something bad might happen if he pointed out that she was just as sly as La Folia.
"Hahaha, isn't it because he's already seen through your true nature?" — Unlike Kojou, Tsurara laughed nonchalantly and teased with an amused tone. "Even if you hide your nasty personality behind that polite mask like Momo-san and La Folia-san, it's easy for Kojou to notice."
"Mu~ Why would you say something so mean, Tsurara-oneesama?" — Mira pouted with a hurt expression, though Kojou could easily sense her kicking Tsurara under the table hard enough to level an entire building.
"Oi, oi… at least don't do that inside the restaurant," — Kojou said calmly, raising his eyes from his cup of ice cream, looking at the two with a weary yet faintly amused gaze.
"Heh, I didn't say anything wrong — just the truth," — Tsurara replied coolly, putting her spoon in her mouth slowly, as if she hadn't just provoked her sister.
"The truth hurts sometimes, doesn't it?" — Mira murmured sweetly, smiling with feigned grace, though the quiet rage radiating from her was unmistakable to Kojou, who sighed deeply.
"Are they always like this, Satsuki-chan?" — Kojou whispered to his youngest daughter, who sat happily on his lap eating her ice cream. "Also, who's this Momo-san?"
"Umm, they're always like this, and they've destroyed the castle many times," — Satsuki replied innocently, betraying her older sisters without hesitation for the sake of her beloved father. "As for Momo-san, she's Kazuki's mom — and one of Papa's wives."
"I see…" — Kojou muttered, rubbing his waist unconsciously, a little worried for his future. "By the way, how many wives does Papa have in the future?"
He was curious — and a little scared — since he already had around twenty women in the present, and it looked like that number would only grow.
"Momo-nee, Lala-nee, Yui-nee, Risa-nee, Rin-nee…" — Tatsuki began listing more than ten names he'd never heard before, and finally spread her hands wide. "Papa has lots of wives."
"...Lots?" — Kojou replied in a deadpan tone, staring at his youngest daughter as if she'd just announced the end of the world.
Mira quietly set her spoon down, a faint smile forming on her lips.
"As expected of Otō-sama… even in the future, you still have your deadly charm."
"I'd call it a curse, not charm…" — Kojou muttered, rubbing his face in exhaustion.
"At least tell me some of them are normal humans?"
"Eh… that depends on your definition of normal." — Tsurara tilted her head with a mischievous grin.
"I'm sure at least two of them belong to an as-yet-unclassified race, and one is half-angel, half-demon."
Kojou froze for two seconds… then looked at Mira blankly.
"That's… not funny."
"I never said it was funny, Otō-sama. I'm merely stating facts," — Mira replied sweetly, though the sparkle in her eyes said otherwise.
Kojou let out a long sigh, lifting little Satsuki off his lap and setting her beside him, as if needing personal space to process the shock.
"Sometimes I feel like my future life was written by someone obsessed with family drama."
"Don't say that, Papa," — Satsuki said cheerfully, holding his hand tightly. "You look happy in the future! You're always smiling, and we all love you so much!"
Her words silenced Kojou for a moment before a faint, rare smile crossed his face.
"...Really?"
"Yeah! Even when Tsurara-nee and Mira-nee fight, you laugh and say the house feels strange without their yelling."
Tsurara chuckled softly, while Mira tried to hide the faint blush spreading across her cheeks.
"Seems like I'll lose my sanity in the future more than I thought…" — Kojou said, leaning on the table with genuine exhaustion.
Then he looked at them — his three daughters — and smiled quietly, with a strange sense of peace.
"At least… it sounds like I wasn't unhappy. That alone is enough for me right now."
Mira gazed at him silently, her eyes holding countless secrets and buried emotions.
"…We'll make sure it stays that way, Otō-sama. Even beyond this era."
"That depends," — Kojou said, glancing at the gray sky through the window, "if that Magical Beast you mentioned doesn't decide to turn my family outing into the start of a new disaster."
A brief silence followed. Then—
The ground trembled beneath them, the windows rattling as if something massive stirred deep within the island.
Kojou smiled bitterly, pushing his empty cup aside.
"...Yeah. I should've known peace wouldn't last more than ten minutes."
From afar, he caught a glimpse of a massive black dragon flying over Saikai Academy before vanishing — and with a glance, he realized that Natsuki had already created a separate dimension and pulled the dragon inside.
"Looks like it's time to get back to work," — Kojou muttered as he stood up, gently lifting Satsuki in his arms. A violet magic circle flared beneath the three of them — and they disappeared from the ice cream parlor.
...
To get more chapters please visit my p@treon :
[email protected]/Akasaki_Ryujin
For support :
https://ko-fi.com/akasaki_ryujin