Chapter 170

"I need him more than you do, Professor."

"......"

"So hand him over."

"......Ha."

Rin boldly claimed the right to be given me.

That bombshell left most of those listening, Javert included, flustered.

The funniest part was Rin tilting her head as if she had no idea what the problem was.

"Student Rin."

Had Javert finally recovered?

She calmed the chilly atmosphere, then replied in a composed voice.

"I don't understand your request. What do you mean by asking me to hand Viktor over to you?"

"Exactly what I said. Give me the top student of Class E. I need him. A little... no, maybe a lot."

"Viktor is not mine. He isn't an object, either. He isn't someone anyone can own or discard. So I have no way to own Viktor, nor can I hand him over to someone else. The same goes for everyone."

"......The top student of Class E doesn't belong to anyone?"

"That's right. There can't be such a thing as ownership."

"Yeah, I understand. The top student of Class E is shared, right?"

"Pardon?"

"So that's why there were always so many women around the top student of Class E..."

Rin nodded matter-of-factly.

She looked as though every question she had ever had was finally answered.

"Then it's okay if I join too?"

"No..."

She asked with vacant eyes.

Her usual expressionless demeanor was so unpredictable that even Javert was taken aback.

Javert tried to clear up the misunderstanding, but Rin, now fixated on one thing, didn't look willing to listen.

"Um."

Rin hurried over to me.

She grabbed my sleeve, and her blue eyes held nothing but the masked boy before her.

"Top student of Class E."

"My lady?"

"I want to stay by your side too. Is that okay?"

"Well... haven't we already been spending a lot of time together lately? Us?"

It wasn't just spending time together, either.

She had come to my dorm almost every day to be stroked.

I scratched my mask, thinking it was a little late to ask that now.

Still, it apparently meant quite a lot to Rin.

Her usual blank expression remained, but her eyes had widened in surprise.

"......You mean it's okay?"

"Of course."

"......Then can I call you by your name too?"

"There's no reason you can't. Honestly, it was stranger being called the top student of Class E every time."

"Really?"

"Really."

"Really, really, really?"

"Really, really, really."

Why was she so surprised over something like this?

It seemed like something that rarely happened in Rin's world.

"Trash."

"I told you not to call me that."

Words I had once overheard in a corner of the infirmary.

Even after she had been beaten to a pulp, the girl hadn't received a single word of concern from her older brother.

Instead, he had mercilessly scorned her, telling her not to call him her brother.

That scene alone was enough for me to imagine Rin's world.

It must have been as lonely and cold as a winter night.

Even if the scenery was beautiful, her aching, ice-cold heart could never have beaten there.

"......Viktor."

"Yes, my lady."

"Viktor."

"Yes, my lady."

"......It feels fascinating."

Just being able to use that name seemed to have shaken her world so easily.

Maybe even the warmth of a single matchstick had been desperately precious to Rin.

Her blue eyes only blinked blankly.

She looked as though she were carefully turning over something unknown.

Like the first person to discover fire, a sprout greeting its first spring after an ice age, or a cicada emerging after seventeen years underground, Rin's reaction was cautious. Even that matchstick's warmth might have been hot to her.

She wriggled her fingers as though cooling a burned hand.

"It's fascinating."

"What is fascinating?"

"My insides feel unsettled. But it isn't unpleasant."

"That's a relief."

"Viktor."

"Yes."

"Viktor."

"Yes, my lady."

"It happens every time I say your name."

A breath slipped past her lips.

Cold radiated from her, and white vapor billowed into the air.

"Motion sickness..."

Rin only murmured blankly.

Then something tiny peeked out from the girl's left side.

Hair like a dark blue night.

A child with an angelic smile.

Lua approached and quietly tugged on Rin's sleeve.

"......Who are you?"

"Mom!"

Rin looked down with a tilt of her head.

When their eyes met, Lua smiled with her eyes.

"Waha...! A new Mom!"

Another declaration that she was collecting moms.

Rin's unfocused pupils widened more than ever before.

Lua bounced up and down, spreading both arms as if asking Rin to pick her up.

Perhaps swept up in that innocent atmosphere, Rin awkwardly lifted Lua into her arms.

Held by Rin, Lua turned to me and smiled.

"Dad! I got a fifth Mom!"

"Mom? Me...?"

Rin repeated Lua's words with a dazed look.

Javert stared in shock.

I watched the scene with a soft smile.

Hmm.

This was the usual sort of mess.

* * *

Lua's declaration that she had collected a fifth mom.

The aftermath continued long after we returned to the dorm.

"Lua."

"Mom!"

Lua was snugly held in Javert's arms.

The professor seemed quietly bothered by what had happened earlier.

Though she tried not to show it, her green eyes kept checking on her daughter.

"Who... is Lua's mom?"

"Mom? Mom is Mom!"

"Then Student Rin is..."

"The stoic Mom is Mom too!"

"......I see."

Javert looked relieved for a moment, then wore an empty expression as though she had been betrayed.

Her arms held Lua tightly, as if she never wanted to let her go.

At a glance, they looked like an incredibly happy mother and daughter.

Then Rin, who had been standing across from them, hesitated before speaking.

"......Professor, I want to hold her too."

"......"

Javert's mood sank.

Still, she wasn't the kind of person who could harshly refuse a student.

In the end, she had no choice but to look to her daughter.

If Lua felt uncomfortable, Rin would naturally have to back away.

"Wow! I'd love that!"

"......"

Unfortunately, her daughter didn't seem to understand her mother's hopes.

Javert had no choice but to hand Lua over to Rin.

Rin held Lua with a blank expression.

Perhaps it was Rin's distinctively cool body temperature.

Lua snuggled even closer to her.

"Hehe! Mom is so cool. I like it..."

"You like me?"

"Yes!"

"......"

Giggle.

Lua let out a bright laugh and rubbed her cheek against Rin's.

Maybe it was Rin's first time seeing something so small, cute, and pure.

She only held Lua quietly.

"Soft..."

It was a brief murmur.

Rin remained expressionless, but her pupils widened at every new experience.

Watching that, I had no choice but to nod.

Even the Ice Princess couldn't resist our little girl's cuteness...

Our Lua was the strongest in the entire universe.

Lua had suddenly gained five moms.

But those two were not the only ones interested in the topic.

The others also gathered around, watching Lua's reactions.

"Um, Lua? What does it mean that you have f-five moms...?"

"Hm?"

Alice was the first to approach.

Though she fidgeted nervously, she asked, "Having five moms means..."

"Yep! I can tell them all apart! Every Mom has a different name!"

"Names...?"

Still in Rin's arms, Lua fluttered excitedly.

Her tiny finger pointed at each person gathered around the bedroom.

"Sleepy Mom!"

"S-Sleepy Mom...?"

The first person she pointed at was Alice, who had been hovering in front of her.

It seemed to be a name related to Alice's [Dream] ability.

"And Sparkly Mom!"

"Mm! I'm honored! To think that Miss Lua would call me Mom."

Ranne.

It seemed to refer to the Starlight she carried.

"First Mom!"

"First? Then... perhaps it isn't so bad..."

Javert.

It appeared to mean the first person Lua had called Mom.

Perhaps she liked the title, because Javert's sunken mood improved a little.

"This is Tingly Mom!"

"What's that supposed to mean, kid? Why am I your mom?"

Caitlin.

Though she furrowed her brow, she didn't actively scold Lua.

"And lastly, Stoic Mom!"

"......Mom."

Rin.

She responded blankly, as though still unused to the word.

One person protested that declaration.

"Wait, why am I not included? This princess is still here!"

"The Princess is just the Princess."

"Why?"

It was none other than Carmilla.

The Princess looked at Lua as though she had been betrayed.

Her red eyes were dripping with disappointment.

But Lua's answer wiped that disappointment away at once.

"Because the Princess is someone even more noble!"

"More noble...?"

"You're incredibly precious! Beautiful, worthy of respect... and cool too! Dad always thinks of the Princess that way. Lua can feel what Dad feels. I know everything. That's why I want to call you Princess instead of Mom, just like Dad does."

"I-Is that so...?"

Her expression instantly softened.

At the same time, a faint flush rose to Carmilla's cheeks.

She composed herself with an unnecessary cough.

"Ahem, ahem... Then this princess shall make a special exception and let it pass."

"Dad likes the Princess a whole lot! He says he'd even give his life if anything happened to you!"

"Ahem!"

The corners of her mouth were twitching now.

I awkwardly scratched the back of my head.

Well, it was true, but...

Hearing it said aloud like that was embarrassing.

I looked away, pretending not to notice.

Regardless, the conversation in the bedroom kept circling back to the same subject.

Who Lua's moms were, and what kind of people Lua wanted as moms...

Hmm.

Maybe because everyone had grown closer, they were deeply invested even in such a pointless topic.

Unlike at first, Rin seemed to blend into the conversation quite well too.

Though it felt less like she was talking and more like she was focused on Lua in her arms.

"Hey."

Lua suddenly spoke.

Everyone turned to look at her.

The little girl tilted her head cutely, as if she didn't understand.

"Why can't everyone just get married?"

"......"

Lua beamed.

She looked like she truly didn't know why, her face full of nothing but innocent joy.

"Lua likes everyone! So I want to live happily with all my moms forever and ever!"

A sudden harem king proclamation.

A stunned silence fell.

The only thing that broke it was Rin's plain, dry comment.

"Our daughter. A genius."

===

This time, it's a shirt collection.

Carmilla and Alice.

I'll upload the rest of the girls tomorrow.

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