After Rio appeared before us, the commander did one thing: she took Rio to [Fraxinus].
The reason was that, in addition to a physical examination, they also needed to introduce Rio to the crew.
"Hmm... Itsuka-kun and Rinne's daughter...?"
"My, how cute."
"The elder brother's daughter...?"
The reaction on [Fraxinus] was explosive.
Some people poked at Rio's cheeks, saying she was adorable, while others, like Mana and Kannazuki, looked at her with complicated expressions.
Honestly, if I found out an acquaintance suddenly had a daughter at the age of a high school student, I’d probably react the same way.
"Ahaha, things just kind of ended up like this."
"Itsuka and Rinne's daughter? What are you talking about?"
At the sudden voice, I turned around and saw Tohka rubbing her eyes as she stared at Rio.
She hadn’t been there when Rio was introduced in the living room at Itsuka-kun’s house, so she must have been asleep.
"Uh... yeah?"
The problem was that I had no idea how Tohka would take this, so I had no way to explain it.
If she suddenly got jealous again and went berserk, we’d be screwed.
"Eek...!"
"Hm? Rio?"
The moment Rio spotted Tohka, she immediately clung to my leg and started trembling.
No, why are you clinging to me and not your dad?
"Rio, am I going to get eaten? Is that it?"
"Eh?"
"There’s no way I’d eat a person."
At Rio’s words, Tohka snorted in disbelief and shot back.
Sure, Tohka was a glutton, but she didn’t eat people, so from her point of view, this was probably pretty unfair.
"Rio. Tohka eats lots of other things, but she doesn’t eat people."
"Mm. Hieta. That sounds kind of weird."
"Gasp. Tohka thought about it!"
"...Shido. I think Hieta wants to die today."
"Ahaha, Hieta. No matter how you look at it, that was too far."
We were celebrating the fact that our Tohka had finally started thinking, but the responses I got were way too much.
Still, that wasn’t the important part, so I let it go.
I patted Rio’s head and asked,
"Rio. Why did you think Tohka would eat people?"
"B-because... because there’s someone who eats people..."
"Hm? There’s no way someone like that exists, right?"
I tilted my head, not knowing who Rio was talking about, and then she dropped a shocking name.
"There is! Tokisaki Ku—"
"Okay. Stop. That’s enough."
So it was that girl after all....
I had no idea how Rio found out, but it was true that that girl did swallow people whole.
She’d swallowed me into her shadow the second time we met, too.
If it hadn’t been for the other girl I met then, I might still be trapped there.
Come to think of it, why did that girl save me?
"Uh, Rio? But why are you clinging to Uncle instead of Papa...?"
When Itsuka-kun asked Rio that with a slightly depressed look, Rio flashed a bright smile and stabbed him straight in the heart.
"Huh? Because Papa is this much weaker than Uncle!"
"Guhk!"
"Um...."
It was true that Itsuka-kun was weaker than me.
No, to be blunt, the difference was as vast as heaven and earth.
I was the Lord of Cinder who had overthrown the usurper of fire, the king of mankind and the dead, the Ashen One who had inherited the power and role of the Lords of Cinder after defeating them.
Even now, with Itsuka-kun having sealed his spirit powers and improved his physical abilities, he still couldn’t beat me.
That was how wide the gap in our strength was.
So Rio had latched onto me, since I was far stronger than Papa.
But leaving strength aside, from a father’s point of view, having your daughter decide you’re not reliable and cling to Uncle instead is a huge blow.
The fact that Itsuka-kun was currently collapsed on the floor after taking that damage with zero defense proved it.
I walked over with Rio to the man who looked like he was about to die face-first and patted his shoulder.
"...Hang in there, Itsuka-kun."
"Papa! Hang in there!"
Maybe our encouragement worked, because Itsuka-kun lifted his drooping face and looked at Rio.
"Yeah, Rio. Thanks."
"Even if you’re weak, I still like Papa this muuuuch!"
"Really?"
"Yep!"
The way Itsuka-kun’s health recovered the moment Rio said she liked him was the textbook image of a doting father.
"Rio, then what about Uncle?"
"Hm? Uncle? Uncle is..."
After a brief pause, Rio spread her arms wide—smaller than Itsuka-kun’s, but still fairly big.
"I like you this much!"
"Guhk!"
This was not a level of cuteness that belonged to this world.
How could there be such an adorable life form?
At Rio’s cute behavior, I clutched my chest and collapsed.
"Kgh!"
Of course, I wasn’t the only victim.
The other crew members also clutched their chests and fell over, and the commander glared at us with a disgusted look.
"Honestly, all of you..."
"Kotori-chan, I like you too!"
"...Well, that does make me feel good."
As expected, praise can make even the commander dance.
"What exactly are you all doing without me?"
"Miku!?"
"Yes! I’m Itsuka-kun’s idol, Izayoi Miku!"
When I turned toward the voice that absolutely should not have been there, I saw Miku.
No, this was [Fraxinus], wasn’t it?
We were 15,000 meters above the ground right now, weren’t we?
And she flew here?
"How did you even get here...?"
At my trembling question, Miku puffed out her chest proudly.
"I flew, of course!"
"We’re 15,000 meters above the ground."
"I just sensed something!"
This was bad.
I had to hide Rio fast.
If things went wrong, who knew what Miku would do if she found Rio?
"My, what’s this cute little child~?"
"N-no!"
"Hm? Rio is Rio!"
"So cute!"
Before I knew it, Miku had Rio in a tight hug and was rubbing her cheek against Rio’s endlessly.
And she was using her own cheek to do it, so calling her an idol felt almost wrong.
"Hah... hah... Ri, Rio-chan..."
"Yep! What is it?"
"Do you know who I am?"
"Yep! The pretty big sister who was on TV and sings really well!"
"Hah... then, would you like to spend some honest time with big sis?"
"Somebody stop Miku!"
The commander also realized the situation was getting serious and gave everyone an order.
I rushed over to Miku, grabbed her arm from behind, and Itsuka-kun and Rinne backed away with Rio in their arms.
Then the [Fraxinus] door shut between them, completely separating Miku from Rio.
"Darling...! I won’t do anything, I swear! Please, please let me be with that child...!"
"Please calm down! You’re acting really weird right now!"
Miku’s cheeks were red, and she was breathing hard.
There was no way we were letting her meet Rio while she was clearly in that state.
"Please, let me be with that adorable Rio-chan...!"
"When did you even start using a nickname...?"
With Miku’s power growing stronger by the minute, it was getting harder to hold her back, so I had no choice but to chop the side of her neck with my hand and knock her out.
"Phew..."
For now, I moved Miku to the infirmary on [Fraxinus], since leaving her like this could make her go berserk again.
When I came back, Rio was in the middle of the crowd, copying Miku’s dance and song.
"Haa..."
"...Did you handle it?"
"Yeah."
At the commander’s question, I gave a small nod and looked at Rio.
"She’s got talent, doesn’t she?"
Maybe because she was a spirit, her dancing was a little rougher than Miku’s, but she was following it almost perfectly.
Considering that Miku had been in the idol industry for years and Rio was basically at her first try, that was an incredible talent.
"Rinne. Do you think Rio might become an idol someday?"
"Maybe. If she does, then as her parents, we should support her."
The two of them had already gone into mom-and-dad mode and were discussing Rio’s future.
"Good grief, what are we supposed to do about these two doting parents...?"
"Leave them be. Rio being their daughter isn’t going to change."
"...I don’t know about anything else, but if they get called Papa and Mama in public by Rio, I feel like they’ll be socially destroyed."
At Mayuri’s words, stuck between me and the commander, we both nodded without thinking.
All right, let’s imagine the situation.
Suppose Itsuka-kun and Rinne were out shopping with Rio and ran into some classmates.
Let’s say those students were the Amami trio.
Then Rio calls Itsuka-kun and Rinne Papa and Mama in front of all three of them?
Yeah, that’s basically the end of their lives.
"That is definitely dangerous."
"...We should probably make them use different names outside."
So we called Itsuka-kun, Rinne, and Rio over and discussed what they should call each other in public, and the result was....
"Mama and Papa, and Uncle!"
"C’mon, Rio? How about something else...?"
"No!"
"...Well, that’s screwed."
It became clear that Rio was more stubborn than expected.
Well, it’s not really my problem, so maybe it’s fine?
"If you’re called Uncle, you’re getting socially destroyed too."
"Why does that happen?"
"Because, say Rio goes outside and says, ‘Uncle made Mommy’s body for her! So he’s Uncle!’"
"......"
I was left with nothing to say.
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