Around 30 minutes past midnight, I reached our house, sleepy and still tired.

Well, I prevented myself from falling asleep on the train. Moreover, I checked on some of my girls who were still awake at that time.

Theres Mizuki whos spending her night analyzing some data related to her work. When I messaged her, the girl immediately videocalled me saying she wanted to unwind herself. When I reminded her not to overwork, the girl just smirked at me and said that I should practice what I preached first.

She got me speechless there. Its truly somewhat presumptuous of me to remind her when I couldnt do it myself.

Nonetheless, before ending our videocall, Mizuki assured me that she wouldnt stay up past 1 oclock. For sure, its to not make me worry about her.

Im surrounded by wonderful girls. And whether Im doing them right or not, its too clear to see...

Even if I am aware of that, I also don't have it in me to just let them go because I feel bad for them for putting up with the selfish me. Its too contradicting but this is how I am. After all, its not just only about me anymore.

Thats why... once everything settles down for our future; my desire and the foundation were going to build, Ill be devoting myself to them. To live with them without the burden of worrying whether I will be overworking myself or not.

... Somehow, I can now imagine what kind of path I will be pursuing.

But before fully treading that path, I will equip myself with more than just the required aptitude for it.

After Mizuki, I also got to talk to Miyako and Ririka.

Miyako told me that soon, shell once again hoist up the passion she let go of before because of being entangled with me. And that passion is art. Shes burning the midnight oil to reignite that lost passion. Its not that I had her stop it before but she probably got lost because of those rumors that never reached my ears.

As for Ririka, shes also up and working into the night for her passion. Although she loves cosplaying and creating costumes, shes also aiming to be a designer. However, shes not that fond of elegant and fashionable clothes. Shes mostly focusing on the niche genre aside from costumes.

Nonetheless, its not like theres no future for that. Her costumes were mostly well-done and filled with the right details.

I promised to come with her to a convention again so... the girl wished for us to cosplay together. Just for the experience.

And thats what shes currently working on.

Anyway, I also couldnt help but remind the two to not stay up too late. Miyako scolded me, even harsher than Mizuki while Ririka pouted while saying Im not being fair.

Due to that, I assured them that I would be hitting the bed as soon as I reached home. Only then did they let me off.

Welcome home, husband.

Like always, Akane was waiting right at the front door even if her eyes were only half-open because of sleepiness.

I did message her when I caught the last train and specifically told her to just wait for me in our bed. But as hardheaded as she was, she insisted on waiting for me there, even asking me to scold her instead.

Mhm. Im home.

Erasing the sleepiness and fatigue that was probably written on my face, I beamed at her and without waiting for her to do anything else, I picked her up in my arms and brought her to our room.

And like this our day ended later than usual. I returned to her side like I promised.

Surely, like everyone else, Akane was facing some difficulties in school but before it could even reach my ears, she had already taken care of it.

Theres the thing with her seemingly endless admirers or those who would even try to stop her to get her attention.

But with the years that passed, Akane remained untouchable for everyone. Besides, its no secret how shes devoted to only one guy who wouldnt give her the time of her day. And thats enough to deter most of those who had the intention to make a move on her.

In return, when they found out whos that lucky guy, theyd steer their attention to him.

Its obvious that the lucky guy is me. However, I actually only dealt with some of them. Those who specifically waited for me outside the school to ask me to back away from Akane.

Akane actually prevented most of them from even approaching and disturbing me. Thats what she confessed when we once talked about that topic.

Now that shes in high school, there are new flies trying to buzz around her. However, with our relationship coming out in public, as witnessed by many eyes from their school, only those who had high confidence in themselves remain.

Nonetheless, it still hadnt gotten to the point that I needed to be involved. Akane could handle all of them by herself after all.

Although my possessiveness over her would always whirl in its eagerness to stomp at those guys whenever I heard the details from her, I had to reel it in.

Thats what Akane wants, after all. To not make me worry. Shes telling me about it to ease my mind, not to rile me up.

When the morning arrived, its the ringing of my phone that woke us up.

And as I expected, the call came from my mom. With an excited voice, she updated us on their current status as well as chatted with us for a bit.

Apparently, theyre already transferring on a plane specifically bound to our citys airport and that plane will be arriving near lunch.

Due to that, I will not be there to welcome them.

Hmm? Dont worry about it. I will bring Minoru with me to pick them up. You two go to school like normal. Miwa-nee said when I told her about it after finding her in the kitchen. Ah. That's right. I also prepared your lunchboxes. Don't forget it before you go later.

She actually woke up early to prepare a lunchbox, not just for us but also for them. Because I told my mom that I might not be able to answer her call last night, she called Miwa-nee instead and told her the details of their flight.

Seeing how shes not bothered about bringing Minoru with her when shes just worried about meeting them for the past few days, I found a chance to probe her while were eating breakfast.

Miwa-nee, are you sure youre alright meeting them? I started my question with that.

Hmm? Why will I not be alright? I told you. I will not hold back anymore when it comes to you... They explicitly gave their approval to this lifestyle of yours, its about time I also stop pretending in front of them. True. I am a relative of your mother but youre aware of it... from how far apart we are from our family tree, its safe to say that were not related at all. We just happened to be close and through that connection, I found you. Miwa-nee answered with extreme confidence. Theres even a shine in her eyes as she also moved her gaze to Akane, showing a slightly smug expression.

Thats right. Yesterday, in that storage unit, Miwa-nee removed all restrictions she placed on herself. Like most of my girls, she wouldnt hold back on her affection for me anymore.