Chapter 385: Aren’t you afraid…?

Chapter 385: Chapter 385: Aren’t you afraid...?

--Friday, September 4, 2172

Amid subtle sighs of sadness from a pair of nurses, Kai walked out holding Tomoko’s hand, while Shino and Ryuko followed behind them, seriously jotting down the doctor’s recommendations.

"Before heading to the agency, let’s stop by a pharmacy to buy some folic acid."

While adjusting the driver’s seat, Shino glanced at Kai beside her in the passenger seat and remarked in a serious tone, then looked at Ryuko and Tomoko through the rearview mirror. Kai pulled out his phone to check it while answering calmly.

"Don’t worry about that; the order I placed already arrived."

After finishing his sentence, Kai showed Shino his phone, where several boxes could be seen left at the mansion’s front desk. Ryuko and Tomoko also looked at the phone, and beautiful, satisfied smiles quickly formed on the faces of the trio of beauties. At that moment, Tomoko commented with an enormous grin on her face.

"Then let’s go! I can’t wait to see Chatora’s face when he finds out, hahaha!"

"I’ll have the camera ready, Nyahaha." Ryuko added with a mischievous smile while playfully showing her phone. Equally amused, Shino started the car and announced enthusiastically.

"Then let’s go!"

...

...

...

In a spacious, well-lit bathroom, Momo stepped out of a stall while concealing something in her right hand, the moment in which she saw herself in the enormous mirror in front of her. In the mirror, she saw herself pale and with lips almost entirely devoid of color, looking like a ghost.

Upon seeing herself like that, Momo could only smile bitterly and look away, then pull a box from the pocket of her skirt to skim over the same list of instructions once more. But just as she finished reading it, the door of the only still-closed stall opened, and Nejire stepped out with a nervous, excited smile.

"What do I have to do now, Momo?!" Upon stepping out, Nejire asked with a flushed face and a spark somewhere between excitement and curiosity glowing in her beautiful blue eyes.

"Did you do it for 5 to 10 seconds like I explained?" Momo asked back in an equally nervous voice. Nejire nodded her head enthusiastically.

"Yes! I counted to 10 with each one!"

"Then we just have to wait..." Momo commented in a flat voice as she set the three different pregnancy tests she was holding in her right hand down on the elongated sink counter.

With an excited little hop, Nejire placed her own pregnancy tests on the counter, slightly apart from Momo’s, and together they waited with contrasting attitudes. This especially struck Momo, who couldn’t help but look at Nejire’s blushing excitement, feeling incredibly uncomfortable.

After all, even though Kai had assured her she wasn’t pregnant, she was terrified that he or Sage had made a mistake and that she really was expecting a baby.

Although her plans included having several children with the love of her life, that was a plan for the future; right now she was too young and had too much living to do before bringing a new life into the world. That was a responsibility she couldn’t take on at the moment.

"Nejire... Aren’t you afraid...?" With her gaze fixed on the expectant Nejire, Momo asked in a weak voice that sounded more like a broken whisper.

"Afraid...?"

Nejire murmured, confused, as she turned to look at Momo beside her. Upon seeing Momo, Nejire finally realized just how pale her lifelong friend—her sister from another mother—was and replied in a cheerful but unusually serious tone.

"No, I’m not afraid. I want to have lots and lots of babies with my Kai-chan, and since Tomoko is going to have one, if I have one too, we can help each other out. Besides, if I start early, by the time I’m Mom’s age, all the babies will already be grown, and then I can devote myself to being a professional hero."

Nejire paused briefly, but seeing Momo’s confusion, she soon explained cheerfully.

"Just think about it; there are many pro heroes over 40. Only All Might is over 50, and he’s still Number 1; Nemuri Onee-chan and the Pussycats are all over 30 too, and none of them are planning to retire anytime soon. So 30 or 40 isn’t too late to be a hero, especially with how slowly we age.

"Just look at Mom; she has to pull the company out of ruin, which isn’t far from having to start from scratch, but she still looks 25 and is stronger than any hero out there. And also, no matter what happens, Kai-chan is still going to be a young father, so having 1 or 2 doesn’t change things much, but it would let me be his ’accomplice’ in all of this."

Upon hearing Nejire, Momo opened her eyes wide, visibly marveling at Nejire’s perspective. She really hadn’t thought of it that way; Yumiko was living proof that 40 wasn’t too late to focus on a career, but indeed it was a little late to have a baby.

"... You’re right... It’s not so terrifying when you put it that way..." After a few seconds of silence, Momo commented, her reflective gaze fixing on Nejire, then added with admiration and respect.

"You’re really deep when you put your mind to it..."

"Hehe." Nejire laughed cheerfully before turning her gaze back to the pregnancy tests, something Momo soon did as well.

After a few minutes, the 6 pregnancy tests finally showed their results—unanimously negative. Upon seeing the row of negatives, Momo let out a sigh of pure relief, but almost at the same time, her beautiful engagement ring came into her field of vision.

(Kai’s firstborn can’t be a bastard, can he...?)

While feeling a void forming in her stomach, Momo stared at her engagement ring, and an almost rhetorical question floated through her mind.

Even though Tomoko had said she wanted her to be the legal wife and for everything to stay as it was, Momo knew her conscience would never let her sleep again if she truly did nothing. She couldn’t see herself standing in the way of that baby having the family it deserved—the family she’d always dreamed of.

Even though she knew rationally that it was foolish, since the relationship they had made forming a "traditional family" impossible, she couldn’t get it out of her mind. Emotions don’t understand reason or logic. That’s why she had long ago reached an agreement with herself regarding the future of their twisted relationship: to treat each of Kai’s children as her own, loving them wholeheartedly and with no distinction from her own.

After all, she had always believed she would be the first to have Kai’s child. They were the same age, so obviously, the two of them would reach the right age to be parents at the same time. At which point she would retire to have their babies, and after a while, the other girls would start having theirs.

But facing the new circumstances, Momo knew she could never be a proper mother to that baby. So, if she couldn’t give it to the family that the baby needed, the most logical thing would be to step aside and hand over her position as legal wife to Tomoko, even if it broke her heart.

...

"What are you thinking about?"

While Momo got lost in a sea of contradictory and chaotic emotions that were starting to escape logic and rationality, she was suddenly brought back to reality by Nejire’s cheerful voice. Lowering her gaze, Momo found Nejire, hugging her and smiling warmly.

"...I think I should give this ring back to Kai..." Momo murmured in a bitter voice, on the verge of tears. Nejire’s eyes widened in surprise before she asked in a more serious voice.

"...Momo, do you think Kai is ready to be a father?"

"Huh?" Upon hearing the question, Momo let out a confused sound. Nejire looked Momo directly in the eyes and remarked in a deep tone.

"He’s not. Because none of us is. An innocent baby is going to come into the world in the middle of a perverted and taboo relationship, with a perverted masochist in her 30s as a mother and a first-year high schooler as a father. Who in the world could be prepared for that? No one, not even Kai, and I know you’ve noticed it too. Kai is far from being as calm as he appears.

"But in the middle of all that, you, the only one to whom Kai has given a ring that represents his love and commitment, something he hasn’t even given to Nemuri, instead of supporting him, want to give him more problems. How do you think Kai would feel if his wife abandoned him now?"

While her light royal blue eyes gleamed strongly, fully focused on Momo’s, Nejire paused briefly, as if giving Momo a moment to digest her words. After barely a few seconds, Nejire added firmly and seriously.

"Think about it very carefully, Momo, because if that ring is too heavy for you to carry, I’ll be the one to carry it."

"..."

Momo opened her eyes in silence, stunned, the moment an alarm rang out in the deserted bathroom. Quickly, Nejire grabbed her phone and, upon seeing the time, looked back at Momo with her typical cheerful, innocent smile and commented hurriedly.

"We’re running late; let’s go!"

At the same time, Nejire destroyed the pregnancy tests with a wave of energy, then dragged the stunned Momo out of the bathroom. For her part, Momo looked at the back of the laughing Nejire before murmuring with a more focused, determined gaze.

"Thank you..."

"Fufu." Nejire laughed cheerfully as she kept dragging Momo toward a car that wasn’t far away.

...

...

...

"Congratulations...?"

In the middle of the living room at the agency house, Chatora could only murmur in disbelief as he held a piece of paper and looked at Tomoko smiling from ear to ear in front of him, holding Kai’s hand.

"Nyahaha, I knew you’d love the news! You’re going to be an uncle!" Tomoko commented, flushed with excitement, raising a fist in the air.

Shocked, Chatora turned to look at Shino and Ryuko, almost seeking confirmation that it was just a joke. The pair of beauties looked at their lifelong companion with warm smiles and calmly nodded.

Chatora looked again at the pregnancy test result in his hands before finally looking at Kai, who gazed at him silently with a calm expression. Although he wanted to make a half-serious, half-joking comment about Kai taking care of Tomoko, Chatora felt the words getting stuck in his throat.

His lifelong friend, practically his sister, had gotten pregnant by a first-year high schooler. A wild statement that Chatora knew fell short of reality, so saying something like that was logically and sentimentally out of place.

...

"...Yes... I’m going to be an uncle... Count on me for whatever you need..." After almost a full minute of uncomfortable silence, Chatora finally managed to spit out a few words with some effort.

"This is something that was going to happen sooner or later, and fate simply decided it would happen early. We shouldn’t worry too much; somehow we’ll make it work."

Sensing Chatora’s emotional state, Shino commented in a calm, steady voice. Ryuko nodded and, while reaching for the electric kettle in the center of the table that had finally finished boiling, remarked with a slightly playful smile.

"Your novel is getting better and better."

"You’ve got that right, haha." Chatora laughed softly before turning to Kai and Tomoko to continue in a more serious tone.

"Even though the news catches me completely off guard, I mean it. You can count on me for whatever you need; I’m entirely at your disposal."

"Thank you, Chatora, I really appreciate that, and I’m sure it will be that way." Kai replied calmly as he received a cup of hot tea from Ryuko, then added in a more serious tone.

"But now comes the serious part. What’s going to be the future of the Pussycats?"

***

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