Outside the window, snow poured down like salt spilling from a cargo ship at the docks, blanketing the land of snow in flawless white. The sight was enough to clear the mind and lift the spirit.
The frozen world seemed to have slipped into a long, endless stillness.
Inside Takashiro Kyoko's shelter, the fire in the hearth was burning strong, and the lingering aroma of dinner still clung to the air.
In the Miranda family's living room, Ye Ling was watching one of the discs Kyoko had found on the television, and the other girls were there too. Yet among this cluster of beauties, Takashiro Kyoko herself was nowhere to be seen.
Where had she gone?
The answer lay in the brightly lit house across from them, its curtains tightly drawn.
If you crept quietly beneath the eaves, you could hear voices coming from the master bedroom on the second floor of Kyoko's house.
The wind and snow blurred most of the conversation, but fragments still came through—fragments shocking enough to make anyone's blood run cold.
"What?! Nuclear weapons? Avoiding a nuclear strike? The Global Committee is going to use nukes to scour the land clean—wipe out Tokyo and the entire industrial belt along the Pacific? And also—mmph...!"
Kyoko blurted it out in astonishment, her expression changing by the second.
Her cry was so loud that Kono Chiyo had to clap a hand over her mouth at once.
Was that really the sort of thing you could say out loud?
There were still people outside.
Chiyo found herself worrying over this child in front of her, who had somehow grown rougher around the edges. She had been so steady before.
"Yes. That's the situation," Kono Chiyo said. "If not for that sudden emergency, and if Helena hadn't suggested stopping here to take shelter, I probably would never have found you, my adorable Kyoko."
In Kyoko's bedroom, Chiyo watched the stunned look on her face and could not help pinching the girl she had practically raised.
Kyoko did not resist. Chiyo had loved pinching her cheeks ever since she was little, so by now she was used to it.
"The texture's gotten rougher. Looks like you haven't been taking care of your skin lately, Kyoko..."
Chiyo's voice grew quieter and quieter until it faded away entirely.
Really, in a world like this, simply surviving without getting infected was already a blessing beyond measure.
Wasn't the way things stood now already good enough?
What more was she asking for?
That was what Chiyo told herself.
"Forget that," she said at last. "Stay with me and rest for a while. I haven't really slept properly in days."
"Hm?"
Tired enough to stop pretending otherwise, Kono Chiyo simply dragged Kyoko down onto the soft bed with her. Kyoko did not panic. She just lay there quietly, as though all her strength had finally run out. For a while, neither of them spoke.
Mm. Kyoko's scent...
Breathing in the familiar fragrance clinging to her, Chiyo said softly, "A place only feels like home when your family is there."
"You must be exhausted too, Chiyo-nee..."
"I've mostly just been worried about you. Your mother entrusted you to me. I don't want to betray Asaka-neesan's last wish."
"Yeah... Chiyo-nee, thank you. For everything all these years."
"Silly child. After all this time, do we really still need those kinds of words between us? Mommy's going to get angry, you know. It's been so long since I heard you call me that. There's nearly twenty years between us, and yet you've always insisted on calling me big sister. Next time, I want you to call me something else."
"Mom..."
Kyoko was not especially awkward about it. The request made sense. Ever since losing her biological parents, Kono Chiyo had truly been her stepmother in all but name.
The reason she had never used that title before was simple: Chiyo herself had never forced the issue. Back when her own mother was still alive, she had always called Chiyo "big sister," so asking Kyoko to switch all at once had felt strange. Besides, Kyoko had always felt that "big sister" made the two of them feel closer.
But now that Chiyo had made her wishes clear, Kyoko was not the sort of fool who refused to bend.
"Good," Chiyo murmured, pulling her into an embrace. "Then rest properly with Mommy for a while. I went through so much trouble to find you. Let Mommy hold you."
After saying that, she wrapped her arms around Kyoko.
"Let me change first," Kyoko said. "This outfit's too cumbersome to sleep in."
"All right."
Chiyo loosened her hold and let her go.
You little fool, you blockhead. That isn't the only title I want from you.
Smiling to herself, Chiyo slipped the pendant off her neck.
Looking down at the image inside it, she whispered, "Asaka-neesan... I found your daughter. You'd bless us, wouldn't you...?"
While Kyoko was out of the room, Chiyo wiped the tears from her face.
She could not let Kyoko see her looking this pathetic.
And while she was changing, Kyoko found herself replaying the events of the day from beginning to end.
The moment she realized the newcomer was her stepmother, Takashiro Kyoko finally let her guard down—at least a little—and invited Kono Chiyo and the rest of the flight crew to share a fairly lavish dinner.
After the meal, Kyoko personally arranged places for the members of the Special Operations team to rest. But the squad commander, Helena, refused to leave Chiyo's side no matter what. Citing duty, she insisted on staying within arm's reach of her at all times.
With no other choice, Chiyo had used the excuse of "private matters" to temporarily send Helena away. Even so, Helena would probably still end up sleeping in the same room as her later.
So when Chiyo and Kyoko finally sat down to talk, they skipped all the formal pleasantries.
In Kyoko's bedroom, Kyoko told her about everything that had happened from the outbreak until now.
Naturally, she left out the part about the system—and the part where she had cut down powerful infected one after another like some unstoppable warlord. That much, at least, she still kept to herself.
She had also made Huaxiu and Miranda promise not to mention any of it.
And her relationships with those two girls... she had not told Chiyo about those yet either.
The timing was wrong.
Bringing two girls home in the space of a single month—two beautiful girls she had not even known before—if her stepmother found out about that...
Kyoko had a sinking feeling she was in for a lecture.
As for Chiyo's attitude toward relationships between women, Kyoko honestly was not sure. She sighed inwardly.
Better to deal with that when it came.
Tonight's unexpected happiness did not need more complications mixed into it.
Then again, that was only if her stepmother failed to notice the traces the girls had left on her body.
For the moment, though, none of that mattered. The surprise of being reunited with Chiyo had overwhelmed everything else.
Today, at least, she would not spoil it by dragging trouble into the room.
Join here to read ahead.
In Star Rail, Ultra-Beast Armored — Have I Caught "Equilibrium"? l (Chapter 80)
Uma Musume, But I Only Have Five Years Left to Live (Chapter 178)
Zenless Zone Zero: I'm a Doctor, Not a Bangboo (Chapter 165)
Ben Tennyson Wants to Join the Justice League ( 126 )
TYPE-MOON: Redemption Beginning with the Holy Grail War (Chapter110)
Yu-Gi-Oh! — Transmigrated into the White Dragon Girl (Chapter220)
"Is this chat group even serious?" (Chapter125)
I, Lord Ravager, Utterly Loyal! (Chapter250)
Can Playing Games Save the World? 65
Crossover Anime Multiverse: The Demon Hunter of an Unnatural World 77
From Junkman to Wasteland 66
Weekly Refresh of Overpowered 31
I'm Grinding Proficiency Like 46
From Kiana, Lord Ravager, Onwa 220
Honkai: Is This Still the Prev 42
Elf: My Starter Pokémon Is Inc 65
Warhammer: My Primarch Is Remi 185
From Demon Slayer to Grand Ass Volume2/20
The Way the Umamusume Look at 68
Uma Musume, but My Cheat Power 248
Naruto: Weaving the Future, Be 65
Zenless Zone Zero, but Kamen R 76
Multiverse Crossover: The Perf 66
My Cyberpsycho Girlfriend 65
Uma Musume: The Dark Trainer 230
Uma Musume: A Calamity Born fr 154
I, a Reincarnation-Loop Player Volume4/40
The Violent Girl Group Is Beat 125
Uma Musume: The Horse Girl Who 67
Uma Musume: From Beginner 145
Becoming a Horse Girl, I Will 85
Uma Musume: I Want All 120
I Can Copy Unique Skills 115
Summoning an Evil God, but the 75
Supernatural Multiverse 110
My Harem Is Indescribable 100
Jujutsu Kaisen: Heroic Spirit 105
"I'm just a Valkyrie passing through." 67
Uma Musume: Today Is Another Romantic Battlefield 105
Still playing traditional Honk 80
The Most Filial Son Under Heav 85
What Should I Do After Switchi - Volume2/3
Reincarnated as a Demon, Skill 78
Hell-Difficulty Dungeon? 55
Transmigrated as Sukuna 80
Checking In in Demon Slayer 85
The Reincarnating Trainer of Tracen Academy 100
I Refuse to Become a Heroic 85
My Best Friend Into a Slime? 80
A Saiyan Stands Above Marvel 90
What Do You Mean by Using a Lab Mod to Be the Hero? 75
Tanya Starts from Re:Zero 80
Why did they assign me to Uma 75
MYGO Beauties 70
DanMachi: Emiya the Giant Hero 70
The Gacha Merchant Who Started 80
Honkai's Otherworld? Wait—Who Are You People?! 80
Emiya Shirou, Determined to Slay Every Curse and Evil Spirit 57
The Uma Musume Who Became 55
I'm Definitely Not the King of 60
After Maxing Out Every Class 45
Naruto: I'm Konoha's Local Men 35
Honkai: World Modulation Mode 34
I, the Elden Sword Saint 27
Dio Brando Is Challenging FGO 24
No One Knows Pokémon Better 18
I, Sakazuki, Won't Go Down Tha 20
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