We could only breathe easy once Rinne’s rampage finally stopped.
And after it was over, Rinne was kneeling against one wall with her hands raised over her head, reflecting on her actions.
There was even a sheet of paper hanging around her neck with writing on it.
The words on it read:
"I lost control in a rampage and became a criminal who targeted Shido and Kotori."
The one who naturally suggested writing that in the first place was the commander, who had been one of the targets. I was the one who casually added the word criminal.
There was a little pushback over that, but in the end, everyone had only grumbled because Rinne’s rampage had been so terrifying.
Since Rinne was busy reflecting, I had no choice but to take on all the childcare for the people who had turned young.
"Hieta! I’m going to the bathroom!"
Luckily, Itsuka-kun was mature enough to handle his business on his own.
As for the others, well....
"Um, um, Hai...."
"My lord, I’m hungry."
"Hai! Make us food!"
Some of them kept crowding around me and talking nonstop.
"Kaguya, isn’t that my candy?"
"Hmm. Little one, clinging to trivial things only reveals your own smallness."
"Agreed. One should be fine, no?"
"Nyaaam."
"Eh? Waaah!"
And some were fighting like that.
Man, fuck.
I hadn’t even gotten married, and now I was stuck taking care of kids. What the hell had I done wrong?
I let out a long sigh at the thought of having to handle all of these people by myself.
"Kotori-chan! Rio will give you candy!"
"Really!?"
"Yep!"
"Having Rio here is kind of a relief."
Rio was happily taking care of the younger ones, delighted that she was the older sister now and looking after them with a big-sister mindset.
That meant there was a little less for me to handle, so she really was a good kid.
"Haa.... Natsumi, I’m definitely getting my revenge later...."
Even if my workload had gone down, I was still a first-timer at childcare, so I had to start looking after the kids while swearing revenge on Natsumi.
"...You really are having a hard time, Hiki."
"Ah, Murasame-san."
Murasame-san, who appeared after opening the door to the spirit mansion, went to the table and took out coffee and snacks.
Then she helped Rinne up from her spot of reflection and started talking with her.
"Any response from Natsumi?"
After taking a sip of coffee, I asked that, and Murasame-san shook her head.
"...No. We’ve been running broad-spectrum scans ever since, but there’s still been no reaction. I’ll contact you if anything happens."
"That alone is a relief."
After the conversation ended, Murasame-san looked at Rinne, who was sitting beside me, with a puzzled expression.
Rinne met her gaze for a moment, then looked away shyly.
"...Why were you doing that, Rinne?"
"W-well...."
At Murasame-san’s question, Rinne hesitated for a moment before spilling everything she had done.
After hearing her out, Murasame-san’s eyes widened in surprise.
I could understand her reaction, too. If you looked at Rinne’s usual behavior, there was no way you’d think she’d ever show that kind of side.
Thinking back to Rinne’s rampage from earlier, it was almost enough to make me believe she had a split personality.
"...Hiki, you really had it rough."
"Yeah, I really did."
"S-sorry...."
Rinne lowered her head and muttered softly.
It had been rough trying to keep the younger ones in line and running from Rinne, but it wasn’t really something she needed to apologize for.
I waved a hand at the bowed Rinne and told her it was fine.
"...By the way, what about school?"
Right.
The biggest problem right now was attendance for everyone except me and Rinne.
I and Rinne could still go to school, but if the others showed up in their child forms, no one would believe they were really themselves.
"Papa, can’t I go to school?"
"At this rate, it’d be hard in a body like this...."
In response to Rio’s question, Itsuka-kun opened and closed his tiny hand as he answered.
Still not used to his shrunken body, he kept making little gestures like that, and Rio found it cute and patted his head.
Itsuka-kun’s expression showed a kind of enlightened resignation, but it seemed Rio, already blooming with a smile, didn’t notice.
Murasame-san watched the two of them with a pleased smile.
"Haa...."
I’m going crazy.
In the end, only Rinne and I went to school, while everyone else was marked absent for illness.
It couldn’t be helped, so I figured they’d understand.
That thought lasted only a moment before Tamae-sensei called for me.
"Yes? What is it?"
"Well, there’s a visitor here for Hieta-kun. But...."
"A visitor?"
"The thing is...."
At Tamae-sensei’s call, I stepped out of the classroom, and someone appeared from behind her.
"Ahaha, sorry, Hieta."
"I-Itsuka-kun...?"
Itsuka-kun had come to school.
On top of that, Kaguya, Yuzuru, Mayuri, the Fire Keeper, Tohka, and Yoshino were all there too.
It looked like everyone except the commander had gathered.
But why the hell was it at school of all places?
"Huh?"
Before I knew it, Rinne, who had been peeking from behind me, also jumped in surprise at the sudden appearance of Itsuka-kun and the others.
"N-no! I told you to wait in the staff room!"
Tamae-sensei tried to stop the younger ones, sweating nervously, but maybe because they looked like little kids, she couldn’t really do much about it.
"Hmm. What were you doing?"
"You’re in the way. The people behind you can’t get through."
"Hiki, can you hear me? This is an emergency! The other kids disappeared from home!"
"...Yeah, they’re here."
You could have told me that sooner, commander.
By then, the other students had also been drawn in by the voices of the people who had come to school, and were peeking through the cracks in the classroom door to watch.
We were screwed.
"Hey, Hai. Make sure you testify directly to our homeroom teacher for Class 2-3! Even if you say it’s Yamai, she won’t believe you!"
"Sigh. What a grown-up who judges everything by appearance alone."
"No, if they look like that, it’s only natural not to believe them...."
At Kaguya and Yuzuru’s words, I could only sigh inwardly.
It felt like only a few dozen minutes ago I told them to stay home, and yet they couldn’t even wait that long before coming to school.
They’d clearly been told they were being marked absent for illness, but maybe they hadn’t heard. Either way, I had no time to think about that now—I had to deal with this situation first.
"Sorry. I tried to stop them, but...."
"It’s fine. Well, we’ll make it work somehow."
I stopped Itsuka-kun from bowing to apologize and checked the other classmates’ reactions.
A child apologizing like that wouldn’t exactly help my reputation, and if Tobiichi happened to spot Itsuka-kun here, it would be a disaster, so I had to be extra careful.
"Hey, hey."
"Little girl, what’s your name?"
While the others were still watching, the girl Ai and Mai called over to the Fire Keeper.
After hearing their question, the Fire Keeper thought for a moment before speaking.
"I’m Higakieta Yukie."
"H-Higakieta?"
"That girl looks like Sachi. Could it be...?"
"Uh, uh. Th-that...."
Probably the Fire Keeper figured that even if she gave her real name, no one would believe it, so she gave a different one.
Thanks to that, the place had turned into pure chaos.
Ai, Mai, and Mii were glaring at me like they wanted to kill me, and the other boys were holding curse dolls and getting ready to drive in nails.
"I-It’s a misunderstanding!"
If I let this misunderstanding go any further, my reputation would go so far down it’d hit rock bottom like Itsuka-kun, so I hurriedly waved my hands and tried to smooth things over.
"T-these people are my rela...tives! Yes! Relatives! They’re relatives, and I’m just taking care of them because they have some business to handle!"
"...Well, if they’re relatives, it makes sense they’d have the same family name."
"Yes! Exactly! They’re relatives, so that’s right!"
Luckily, my excuse seemed to work, and everyone started leaning toward accepting it.
Just as I was inwardly relieved that my reputation wasn’t going to drop, light suddenly flared up beside me.
"Huh?"
"Kyaaah! Hai, what are you doing!?"
The clothes on Mayuri, who had been clinging to my leg, transformed into the kind of outfit people usually called a school swimsuit.
Because of that, Mayuri collapsed and covered herself with her hands, and the looks from everyone else turned vicious.
"You bastard! What the hell are you doing!?"
"Disgusting!"
"That’s seriously gross!"
Damn it, you bitch Natsumi...!
The flash of light just now was the same light Natsumi’s angel, Haniel, gave off whenever it used its power.
Which meant Natsumi was watching us from somewhere nearby.
If we stayed here any longer, the others’ clothes might get turned weird too, so I decided to leave first.
"A-alright! Everyone, let’s go back!"
Saying that, I picked up everyone who had come to find me.
"That guy’s running away!"
I’d take a hit to my reputation for now, but it was better than letting it sink any further.
As I headed home, telling myself this was only a little pain, bad news came in.
"Hiki! T-the house!"
"What now with the house!?"
She messed with the house too!?
If I ever found Natsumi, my number one plan was going to be feeding her disgusting food.
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