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"It means my Little Spider is very cute."
Kisaragi Rin pinched Spider Mother's cheek; she also used Space Transfer.
"You five, I..."
Back in the Service Club, Kisaragi Rin had just started to speak to the Nakano Quintuplets when his gaze intently fixed on the corner of the table.
On a chair at the corner of the Service Club's table, a man sat calmly.
His gaze was also fixed on Kisaragi Rin.
When Kisaragi Rin's eyes met his, the man showed a hint of surprise.
"You can actually see me?"
The man said expressionlessly.
"Otherwise? Are you a ghost?"
Kisaragi Rin's face was calm. This guy was probably a powerful Player, because if there was someone in the Service Club, Spider Mother wouldn't have transferred him here.
In other words, Spider Mother, who was in the Infinity Castle, hadn't detected his presence.
The Nakano Quintuplets were a bit bewildered; they hadn't noticed anyone else in the classroom.
The man snapped his fingers, and when the Nakano Quintuplets noticed him, a name immediately slipped out.
"Dad?" × 5
Their shouts carried a hint of surprise. The Nakano Quintuplets looked at their father, who should have been busy at the Hospital, appearing in the Service Club and staring at Kisaragi Rin. Thinking about what Kisaragi Rin had just said about Players, they realized that their father was probably not an ordinary person.
They were just bad at studying, not idiots.
"Nakano Maruo?"
Kisaragi Rin spoke his name, sensing the arrival of trouble.
He had already realized that the unexpected change in his Stand was inseparable from the Nakano Quintuplets, but he hadn't had time to investigate. He had planned to have Spider Mother take Medea to their dreams tonight to look, but Nakano Maruo had already arrived.
Nakano Maruo, a formidable individual recognized by Kisaragi Rin.
Because he was the father, or rather, the stepfather, of the Nakano Quintuplets.
Hmm... In the original story of Nakano Quintuplets, the biological father was a scumbag who ran away after learning that Reina was pregnant with quintuplets. Reina raised her five daughters alone, overworking herself into a chronic, incurable illness. Nakano Maruo, who liked Reina and wasn't wealthy at the time, took on the heavy responsibility of adopting the Nakano Quintuplets.
A few months after marrying Reina, Nakano Reina passed away, and Nakano Maruo became the stepfather of the Nakano Quintuplets... There's a sequence here: Nakano Maruo took on the heavy responsibility of caring for the Nakano Quintuplets after Reina's death, and only then did Reina remarry this former student.
Because Nakano Maruo was still young at the time, he couldn't obtain custody of the Nakano Quintuplets without marrying.
Kisaragi Rin and Nakano Maruo looked at each other, considering what was going on with Reina in this world.
After all, Shinomiya Kaguya's mother, Shimizu Nayotake, had not died of illness in this world view.
This Nakano Maruo seemed to be a Player, and perhaps his story with Reina had also changed.
But it wasn't certain; he might have only entered the Paradise and joined the ranks of Players in recent years.
"Your name is Kisaragi, isn't it?"
Nakano Maruo said calmly, "I need to talk to you about my daughters."
"No problem, about what?"
Kisaragi Rin asked casually, pulling up a chair and sitting opposite Nakano Maruo.
The Nakano Quintuplets' gazes constantly darted between the two of them. In such an atmosphere, they didn't know what to say for a while.
Nakano Maruo didn't answer; he was considering whether to excuse his daughters.
Finally, he uncharacteristically dropped his poker face.
"I am a psychiatrist."
Nakano Maruo said, "But Kisaragi, I can't figure out your thoughts."
"Hmm."
Kisaragi Rin thought, 'It would be a miracle if you could read my mind; I faced an evil god last time and was fine.'
The successful Soul exchange just now was probably because the Stand was his own power. Although the Workshop didn't understand what Kisaragi Rin, its Workshop Master, wanted to do by exchanging his Soul with someone else's, it respected his decision.
"You shouldn't appear before them."
"Dad, us?"
Nino panicked. Nakano Maruo calmly explained, "You misunderstood my meaning. I meant 'shouldn't appear' in an occult sense."
"Huh?"
Nino's face flushed, but hearing Nakano Maruo mention mind-reading, her thoughts couldn't be hidden anyway.
"What do you mean by 'occult'?"
Kisaragi Rin ignored the Nakano Quintuplets. Although he had a slightly delinquent aura, his hair wasn't dyed yellow, nor was he riding a 'Ghost Fire' motorcycle to make Nakano Maruo breathe exhaust fumes.
He hadn't even held hands, so he felt no guilt facing this future father-in-law.
"This is a daily life world, and my daughters will live within daily life.
The extraordinary will not interfere with their lives, and the great power of Paradise will not extend an invitation.
They walk within the realm of daily life; all accidents and changes will not exceed the boundary."
After saying this, Nakano Maruo, with his equally black eyes, looked at Kisaragi Rin and spoke seriously again:
"This is my Prophecy, and it is the direction I command the future to reach.
And you, Kisaragi Rin.
You are like an unpredictable stubborn rock, wantonly intruding into the daily life they were meant to continue!
These three prophecies, which should have come true, have been turned into a false deception by you!"
Nakano Maruo's voice remained calm, but Kisaragi Rin could already sense some anger and killing intent.
What he said was simply that the Nakano Quintuplets could not become Players, could not approach the extraordinary; he wanted his daughters to live stable lives.
Kisaragi Rin suddenly remembered the argument between Yukinoshita Yukino and the Nakano Quintuplets today. If he hadn't existed, then Yukinoshita Yukino, as a Player, would truly have stayed away from the Nakano Quintuplets according to this Prophecy.
Then, could it be that Nino leaving Class E was also because there were two Players in it?
Is this the power of the Visionary from 'Lord of the Mysteries'?
No, a Visionary is a true god. Perhaps it's only a Sequence 1 Author or Sequence 2. His self-proclaimed occupation as a psychiatrist just now also proved this point.
Of course, it's also possible that it's just similar, but the power from other similar worlds.
Nakano Maruo's strength was not something Kisaragi Rin needed to consider right now.
Looking at Nakano Maruo, Kisaragi Rin felt a bit awkward.
Reality was indeed unfolding as Nakano Maruo's Prophecy had stated, but now, encountering Kisaragi Rin, who was protected by the Workshop, his Ability had failed to take effect.
Then Kisaragi Rin brought the extraordinary and Players before the Nakano Quintuplets.
As he said, the Prophecy that should have come true became a deception because of his appearance.
"So why can't they come into contact with the extraordinary?"
Kisaragi Rin asked directly.
Nakano Maruo's strength didn't seem like someone who feared his daughters encountering danger.
And the invitation from Paradise?
Was such a low-probability event really worth taking so seriously?
Or, if he was afraid of the Nakano Quintuplets being invited by Paradise to become Players, Nakano Maruo wouldn't have rushed to Kisaragi Rin so urgently to tell him: 'You're in big trouble.'
Facing this question, Nakano Maruo took a deep breath to calm himself.
Looking around at his daughters, he hesitated for a moment before asking Kisaragi Rin, "Do you think quintuplets can really be born so casually?"
"What do you mean?"
Kisaragi Rin also looked around at the Nakano Quintuplets, not understanding what was wrong with them.
Are you going to tell me that these Nakano Quintuplets were actually babies brought out from Paradise?
"In fact, there were never quintuplets."
Thinking of his wife, Nakano Maruo lowered his head, hiding his emotions.
"There were never quintuplets. Reina only gave birth to one child at the time.
It's just that this child was born with five personalities, and I used some methods to separate these five personalities into independent individuals."
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