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Kisaragi Rin did not speak. The Nakano Quintuplets also looked at Nakano Maruo in shock.
"What do you mean there are no the Nakano Quintuplets?"
Nakano Miku asked incredulously.
The word "personality" spoken by Nakano Maruo echoed repeatedly in their minds. It took Nakano Miku several seconds to realize what she had just heard.
No the Nakano Quintuplets? Did Reina initially give birth to a child with five innate personalities?
What kind of strange plot is this?
Having just learned about Players and having only slightly recovered from the panic of exchanging Souls, Nakano Miku heard an origin story that was hard to accept. She felt her world view was collapsing too quickly.
Nakano Maruo did not answer, nor did he look at his five daughters.
Because he couldn't bring himself to tell them the entire truth of the past face-to-face, Nakano Maruo kept his gaze Lock-on Kisaragi Rin's face.
Looking at this Player who shouldn't have appeared, this Kisaragi Rin whose power he couldn't influence.
"I am only their stepfather."
Nakano Maruo said calmly, but finding no trace of surprise on Kisaragi Rin's face, he immediately had other considerations.
"There were never the Nakano Quintuplets. Ichika and the others' mother, Reina, only gave birth to one child initially.
That statement is slightly erroneous, because the Nakano Quintuplets did exist before Reina gave birth to that child.
A slight mishap occurred."
Nakano Maruo began to tell the story.
"Regarding Reina's ex-husband, Ichika and the others only knew he was scum who abandoned his wife immediately after learning Reina was pregnant with the Nakano Quintuplets.
He truly was scum, but he was even more detestable than just abandoning his wife.
Because that guy was a Player.
I didn't know what he intended. When I went to visit my pregnant Teacher, the children in Reina's belly had already begun to devour each other due to his power.
And I was too weak.
At the time, I had only recently become a Player by accident. After forcing that guy back, I neither knew what he had done to Reina nor had any way to stop what was happening.
In the end, the child Reina gave birth to was one who had devoured the other four.
A year later, as I grew stronger in the Paradise, I discovered that this child was born with five personalities.
Later, I used certain methods to separate these five personalities into individual entities, which are the current Ichika, Nino, Miku, Yotsuba, and Itsuki.
Reina was just an ordinary person. After this incident, she refused to accept my help and chose to raise them alone. I also shifted my focus to the Paradise. When I emerged from a crucial Game, Reina appeared before me again."
Stopping there, Nakano Maruo paused.
His emotions were like stagnant water, yet secretly they were already turbulent. Just recalling this memory felt like having his Soul pierced by countless needles.
Kisaragi Rin did not speak. If Nakano Maruo became a Player while Reina was pregnant, then Reina's subsequent death from illness likely had another cause.
And that cause was not something he could casually ask about.
"She fell ill, seemingly from chronic overwork.
But even though I had gained power, I couldn't save her. Now I understand that guy had used Reina to complete a Ritual.
What was devoured in this Ritual was never just the four children who failed to be born; Reina, as the carrier of the Ritual, also had no possibility of being saved.
Later, Reina and I got married, and I became Ichika and the others' stepfather.
A few months later, Reina died of illness."
As the final words fell, Kisaragi Rin's gaze swept toward the Nakano Quintuplets.
His question was why the Nakano Quintuplets couldn't be exposed to the Supernatural, and Nakano Maruo started directly with the Nakano Quintuplets' birth story.
It was correct that revealing this past could better explain why the Nakano Quintuplets shouldn't be exposed to the Supernatural, but Kisaragi Rin felt Nakano Maruo's story wasn't meant for him. He just wanted to use this conversation to tell the truth of the past to the Nakano Quintuplets, who had already been exposed to the Supernatural.
And the reaction of the Nakano Quintuplets?
In fact, from their perspective, this story wasn't much different from the parts they already knew.
The former was the ex-husband abandoning Reina, and Reina dying from chronic overwork. The latter was the ex-husband using Reina to complete a so-called Ritual, causing Reina's death.
In any case, it was all Reina's ex-husband's fault, but the truth sounded far too convoluted.
So convoluted that the Nakano Quintuplets felt somewhat lost.
They opened their mouths. What should they say?
"Father, is that guy still alive? We must kill him to avenge Mother!"
Seriously, they were young ladies just recently.
This isn't an American action movie, there's no way for such a rapid emotional shift.
What they needed most right now was a moment to process and fully understand what they had heard.
"What was special about that Ritual? Will they be in danger if they are exposed to the Supernatural?"
Kisaragi Rin asked.
"You could say that."
Nakano Maruo: "Regarding that Ritual, you should know the importance of Aptitude for a Player, right?"
Kisaragi Rin nodded. He continued, "There are too many worlds in the Paradise. I don't know which world that Ritual originated from, or if it was just a crazy idea he suddenly came up with himself.
According to my research, the effect of this Ritual was to make five infants of the same origin devour each other, ultimately concentrating the Aptitude of all five people."
"Reina's ex-husband doesn't seem like the type of person who would consider a child's future."
Killing a mother and four children just to create a child whose innate Aptitude is five times that of an ordinary person?
It sounds like someone who suffered a sudden blow and wanted to entrust the future to the next generation.
But that guy's character... Kisaragi Rin pondered for a moment and said with interest, "I feel like this Ritual has a second step, perhaps using this child, who shares the same origin as him, for Alchemy to enhance his own Aptitude."
Nakano Maruo: "..."
"I thought of that too, because the child born in the end is basically impossible to become a Player."
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