Ryn lay on the bed, looking at Mei in his arms, and fell into deep thought.
If humans could think without emotion, would civilization lose its soul?
Is the starry sky above our heads a fabrication? The unexplored realms are full of unknowns.
The line between life and death is inherently blurry, just as the God of Death is, in a sense, also the God of Life.
Perhaps only at a time like this could I cast aside all distracting thoughts and explore the truths of the world.
"You jerk, why do you suddenly have that look of someone with no desires again?" Mei pressed herself tightly against Ryn's chest, one arm wrapped around him, the other hand's fingertips lightly tapping and drawing small circles on his chest.
"Sorry, I was in my sage moment for a bit. My emotions have taken over my brain again now."
Ryn hugged Mei and rolled over, swapping their positions.
"Ready to continue?"
"Again...? Do I need to change then?" Mei pointed towards the closet. She still had several other outfits she hadn't shown Ryn yet.
Ryn kissed Mei's neck, trailing kisses up to her alluring lips.
"No, this is more than enough. Let's just stay like this for now."
"Hmph, you've bled more than enough through your nose too."
"Who's to blame when Mei is so beautiful, deeply attracting a vigorous young man like me."
"You got what you wanted and you're still playing innocent..."
——————————————
Over with the three little ones.
"Huh, Kiana, why did you turn green? You're even wearing a green hat." Kika pointed at Kiana's character on the screen.
"I don't know! Maybe I picked up some unknown blessing on the road." Kiana touched her own head, unsure why it happened.
"But it looks pretty good. Kiana, check your status bar and see what it is, get me one too."
"Okay, I'll look." Kiana opened the status bar, looking through it one by one, and finally found it on an icon.
"How strange, this status icon looks like Cortana... Let me see what it's called. Uh... 'This is all I can do to help you'? What a weird name!"
"What? Crap, don't tell me that guy succeeded!"
Kika exclaimed in surprise, only to be immediately pounced upon by Bronya and Kiana, who covered her mouth.
"Shh!"
Both Bronya and Kiana made a shushing gesture, telling Kika not to make so much noise.
"Forget it, how could that be possible... they should both be asleep right now, I'm probably overthinking it..." Kika muttered to herself and returned to her seat. After picking up her controller, she found that her character had also been dyed green.
"What the hell!"
Kika couldn't hold it in this time. She had told Mei so many things, tricks she was planning to use herself! Had Mei stolen them all?
"Quiet, Kika! Bronya has warned you many times! If you keep this up, Bronya will have to ask you to leave!" Bronya jumped up angrily and tapped Kika on the head.
Kika reached out and pulled Bronya into a corner, leaving a bewildered Kiana behind.
"Kiana might not get it, but I can't believe you don't get it, Bronya! This is not a good thing!"
"Hmph, what does it have to do with Bronya? Bronya is happy enough with big sister Mei and Seele."
Bronya crossed her arms, a look of indifference on her face. She still needed Ryn's help with something, so there was no way she would do anything to harm him.
Besides, an idiot like Kiana wouldn't say anything even if she knew. In fact, she'd probably think the more family, the merrier. At most, if Kiana got upset and wanted to beat Ryn up in the future, she would just help out by giving Ryn a couple of big slaps.
"That's true... as long as it's not Mei. Let me think... Ryn has two great beauties at home, Kallen and Yae Sakura... How exciting! Wait... maybe Judah too... Eww—"
The more Kika thought about it, the more ridiculous it seemed. But then she remembered that all of them had better figures than her, and it became a little easier to accept.
"Wait a minute, the problem is that I turned green too!!" Kika shouted in surprise.
"Yes, yes, you turned green too." Bronya rolled her eyes at Kika and turned to leave.
"Bronya, what are you two talking about? I think I heard you mention Ryn!" Kiana asked curiously as Bronya returned.
"It's nothing. Oh, right, Bronya has a gift for you and Kika!" After speaking, Bronya pulled out two green Homu hats from under her bed and put one on Kiana's head and one on Kika's.
"It's weird... but since it's a gift from Bronya, I'll accept it with gratitude!" Kiana said, happily hugging Bronya.
"Idiot..."
Bronya rolled her eyes speechlessly. The idiot Kiana would probably still help count the money after being sold.
"Huh, how come Bronya's character is green too?!"
"Pfft—" Kika couldn't help but burst out laughing. Even Bronya had turned green. It must be a prank by Cortana. In that case, Mei probably didn't get together with Ryn. What a relief.
Kika patted her budding chest in relief, then placed her own Homu hat on Bronya's head.
"I won't be accepting this gift. You should keep it for yourself, ahahaha—"
Bronya started to tussle playfully with an indignant Kika. And outside the circle of their laughter and roughhousing, Kiana silently undid her braids, letting her hair fall down to cover her right eye.
Kiana was a child who was good at forcing a smile... she smiled so that Kika and Bronya wouldn't see that anything was wrong.
How could she not know the meaning of a green hat... she was there when Ryn and Otto explained it...
"Heh... and I even laughed before, saying I didn't mind, that the more the merrier. But when it really happens, my heart still hurts so much... Kiana... you're such a hypocritical child..."
Cortana's figure quietly appeared beside Kiana, reaching out to hold the emotionally fragile little girl.
"Should I go stop Ryn?"
"No need. Cortana, can you tell me who it is? If..." If it was someone she didn't know, then they would all turn into paste together.
"Mei..."
"So it's Mei... Huh?! Mei?!"
Kiana's gloomy demeanor vanished in an instant, her golden pupils were suppressed, and her whole face lit up with a happy smile.
"If it's Mei, then it's fine. I was worried Ryn had found some other woman I didn't know behind my back!"
Kiana happily rubbed her hands together. Mei was already family to her and Ryn. Kiana wasn't sad about this; on the contrary, she was genuinely happy.
After all... this way, Mei would be completely integrated into her and Ryn's family, and they would never have to be separated again. She could even get Mei to share the burden, and she could be affectionate with Mei when the three of them were together.
The more Kiana thought about it, the happier she became, and she started to cheer. Finally, she jumped up and shouted with joy.
"Yay!"
This cheer made the bickering Bronya and Kika stop in their tracks. In unison, they snapped at Kiana.
"Kiana, shut up!"