"A housewife, huh…" I rubbed my chin, staring down at the ground.
"If that's what you want… then sure."
Her expression shifted, the brief confusion melting into something quieter. More certain.
"Mhm. I think that's what I'll be." She nodded once.
"Yeah… you deserve that." I glanced at her. "Resting. Especially after everything."
A small pause.
"You don't have to worry about anything anymore."
She looked down, casually materializing a small stick in her hand and began drawing something on the ground, a faint smile tugging at her lips.
The chatter from inside the house, everyone still celebrating slowly faded as the sun dipped lower. When I leaned over to see what she was drawing, it… somehow didn't make sense.
"Because it's not meant to, dumbass. I'm making dinosaur tracks."
"…Right."
I laughed softly, leaning back and pulling one knee close to my chest.
"So," I started again, "should we go home after this? Mom said he'll let us stay there for as long as we want. Rose didn't mind either. Mom already bought her one way back."
"And Dad…" I drifted, eyes lifting toward the sky. "Said it's up to us what we wanna do next."
She stilled.
Her gaze lifted too.
"…Should we give Carthanalenia a little sister?"
Silence.
I slowly turned my head to stare at her.
"Girl… what gave you that idea?"
It took her a few seconds to process what she'd just said. Then her eyes widened slightly.
"Um… tongue slipped?"
"That's a weird slip of the tongue…"
I shook my head slightly before looking back at the sky.
"Anyway… we're pretty much free from now on."
"Well. Except for the three to five years of obligatory teaching," I added. "But I'll still be earning while working. So we'll have extra funds for finances."
"We already have millions without doing anything though…" she chimed in, staring into the distance.
"To be honest, we could just…" her voice softened. "Spend the rest of our lives loafing around our place."
A small pause.
"Maybe cross into other multiverses while we're at it." She hummed lightly. "Then we'll think about Carthanalenia's little sister."
I gave her a flat glance.
"You're still hung up on that…?"
"Can you blame me? Carthanalenia would feel lonely if she's alone, wouldn't she?"
My expression flattened further.
"Carthanalenia's not exactly a child, you know…" I sighed. "Besides, if we have another one, maybe in the future—what would they even be like?"
That actually made her pause.
"Hm… good point." She folded her arms thoughtfully. "Carthanalenia alone is already almost at Rania's level of authority."
My eyes widened as I turned to her.
"Hold on, what?"
"What?" she blinked. "If we're talking authority alone, she's already at Outer God's level. She just doesn't carry a Fragment since she's a fusion of ours. Continuity and Stillness."
I rubbed my temple.
"And you're saying…?"
"Our second child would be born from Fullness and Stillness by then. Not just one of the Five Fragments."
She raised a finger.
"That would place her outside the current metaphysical structure entirely. She'd be more than capable of overpowering Kagariel, Roselia, and Rania at once."
"And like I said a few years ago, I still carry the Plenitude. So she'd be born from that meeting your Stillness."
For a moment, I looked away, running a hand through my hair.
"That sounds incredibly wrong if someone else overheard that…"
Another sigh left me.
"Let's think about that later, okay…? We both just graduated."
She paused, lowering her raised finger before giving a small shrug.
"Fair."
Silence returned as we stared at the orange sky, watching it slowly fade into dusk.
—
The following months passed in a blur.
Anathasia and I stayed at the house in the city. The one we lived in for the past five years and paid off in full shortly after Mr. Li Mingyuan finalized the accounts under both our names.
By the time four months had passed, I was preparing to fulfill my three-to-five-year obligatory teaching contract.
I was adjusting my tie on the morning of my first day when—
"Kylie, you've got a message."
Anathasia stood at the doorway, a spatula in one hand, her blue apron tied neatly around her waist. She casually tossed my phone toward me.
"Stop butchering my name," I said flatly, catching it mid-air before glancing at the screen.
"The Department has decided to allow Mr. Abe to conduct classes remotely, as approved by the higher superintendent."
I blinked.
"…What?"
I tilted my head slightly.
"What's wrong?" she asked, leaning against the doorframe now.
"It says I can just teach from home. Online classes. Like when we had remote lectures because our professor was doing part-time work. Remember?"
Another notification came through. This time from Mr. Mingyuan.
"I hope you do not mind me pulling a few strings. I would rather you not be inconvenienced by traveling back and forth."
Before I could react, Anathasia flickered. Reappearing at my side as she peered at the screen.
Her expression flattened instantly.
"Oh. So it's his doing."
"Seems like it."
I casually placed my phone on the bed. My clothes shifted seamlessly into my usual household wear.
"By the way," I glanced at her. "Where's our daughter?"
My uniform materialized in her hands. She slipped it onto a hanger and let it rest neatly against the wall.
"She went back to Egrathiel's planet. Said she has to deal with politics."
"What planet is Egrathiel from again?"
She paused for a moment, folding her arms over her chest.
"Apoche, if I'm not mistaken. A few million light-years from here." She shrugged lightly. "She's their god there too, so… paperwork."
"Sounds like a lot of work…"
"Right?" she shrugged again before turning. "That's why I don't like being worshipped. Too many sweats."
Then she casually walked down the hallway, her footsteps disappearing almost instantly.
With a small sigh, I picked up my laptop and headed down to the living room. Once there, I placed it on the small table and opened it, preparing for the classes I had a few hours from now.
—
After the last class where I introduced myself, I finally closed my laptop before flopping back onto the couch and staring at the ceiling.
"Not bad for a first day…"
As I slowly closed my eyes, I felt a warm weight resting on my stomach.
When I looked down, a white cat was curled up on top of me for some reason.
"…Anathasia?" I murmured.
The cat immediately woke up and looked at me.
Then she spoke.
"Yeah?"
"…Right. I should've known it was you."
She simply licked her paw before walking up to my chest and suddenly licking my cheek.
"How's teaching?" she asked, pulling away slightly as she sat on top of my chest, staring down at me with those bold crimson eyes.
"It's relatively easy… though I'm a bit concerned about a few of my students."
She tilted her head, her tail flicking lazily.
"Why's that?"
I glanced at my laptop for a moment, then looked back at her and reached out to gently pet the back of her ear.
"Most of them… can't even construct basic sentences."
She immediately stopped nuzzling against my hand.
"They what?"
"They can't form grammatically correct sentences. Some can't read properly… and a lot of those who can still struggle with comprehension."
I patted her head one more time before pulling my hand back.
"It's a recurring problem our country has had since I was little… and now it's even worse."
A sigh escaped me.
"I'm not trying to pin the blame on anyone but… really, what even happened?"
Anathasia stared at nothing for a moment before shaking her head.
"That's not really something we can deal with that easily…" she murmured before looking back at me.
She stepped forward and casually licked the tip of my nose before jumping off the couch. A white cloud covered her briefly as she shifted back into her human form.
Now standing beside the couch, she glanced down at me.
"Best you can do is guide them properly and support them. If they won't help themselves learn, then that's that."
"You can't force someone to learn if they don't want to."
She reached down and patted my head, giving me a soft smile.
"It's not your fault if they don't change."
A brief pause followed.
"And you just started. So who knows? Maybe you'll be that one teacher who finally helps those struggling students."
She gently pinched my cheek.
"No need to blame yourself or anything, alright? Just… take your time."
Silence followed.
Then I placed my hand over hers.
"Yeah…" I mumbled. "You're right."
Her smile widened slightly as she pinched my cheek again.
"Wanna help cook for a bit? Might take your mind off things. Carthanalenia's coming home with Egrathiel too."
A small smile tugged at my lips.
"Yeah."
I pushed myself up from the couch and stood.
"That'd help."