As time passed, the mornings and evenings grew a little chilly.
With a smile overflowing with love, Ai looked at the photos taken a few days earlier when the twins had gone on a kindergarten field trip together.
The photographs, each one holding precious memories of the twins, had piled up one by one until they were already on their third thick photo album.
Just in case, Kaoru had scanned and backed up every single photo, so if she wanted, she could view the files anytime on a computer, laptop, or smartphone.
But even so, photos were still no match for looking at them directly with her own eyes and touching them with her own hands.
"So cute..."
At the twins’ bright faces, pressed close together as they smiled and flashed peace signs toward the camera, Ai let out a soft, laughing breath.
. . .
The drama [Cheerful Girl] finally ended its final episode with a 30.2% rating.
There had been plenty of worried voices and skeptical looks aimed at Ai, who had taken her first lead role after getting married in March, but the drama sparked a [Cheerful Girl] syndrome among teenage and twenty-something women and went down as the hottest topic of the year, once again proving to the world just how solid Ai’s popularity was.
Before the drama even finished airing, scripts for new dramas and films had been pouring in for Ai, but she put all of them on hold or turned them down.
Since both husband and wife had been so busy, one of them needed to take a short break to care for the twins and keep the household running.
The film [Wolf Tail] also finally surpassed 20 billion yen in box office revenue, proving once again just how hot Kaoru’s popularity was.
Once Ai’s [Cheerful Girl] ended, Kaoru’s new drama, [The Soul Detective], which had already started filming and was in preproduction, began airing.
It was a drama about an ordinary aspiring detective who, after an accident, gained the supernatural ability to see souls and solved unsolved cases by speaking with spirits.
With its tense occult elements, a moving narrative woven together with human drama, and Kaoru’s delicate acting, ratings began to rise from the very first episode.
Kaoru focused fully on the drama schedule, which had already been filmed through the middle episodes, and did not extend his schedule any further through the end of the year so he could focus on helping his wife care for the twins.
Of course, his existing schedule was already packed, so even that September, they still couldn’t go to Miyazaki Prefecture, but the couple promised each other they would make time and go later.
. . .
After the drama ended, Ai officially enrolled at a nearby driving school to get her driver’s license.
As a 21-year-old adult and the mother of twins, she was determined to get her license no matter what.
Ai’s starry eyes sparkled as she clenched both fists and burned with enthusiasm in front of Kaoru and the twins.
"Eek—w-what is all this?! There’s so much to memorize?! It’s confusing!? A-after the pedestrian signal turns on... you must not go until everyone has crossed the crosswalk... speed limit... 50 km/h... Whaaat?! How many signs are there? No way—!!!"
There were so many traffic laws and other things she had to memorize for the written exam that Ai clutched her head the moment she opened the book.
How had her husband passed his driver’s license test on the first try? Come to think of it, Kaoru had even had a motorcycle license for ages?!
Because his wife had no interest in studying, Kaoru sat beside her whenever his schedule allowed and taught her himself.
He brought out a tiny toy car he had bought for Aqua to play with, drew a road on a sketchbook, placed the toy on it so it would be easier for Ai to understand, and moved it around with his hand as he explained.
Not only that, Kaoru sat Ai in the driver’s seat of his Volvo SUV and sweated buckets while teaching her how to operate the complicated functions that could confuse a beginner.
"This one—right! It’s the turn signal!"
"Haha. That’s the wiper. If you move this up and down, the wipers work when it rains."
"Ohhh!"
He had definitely told her three minutes ago, so why was she nodding with the look of someone seeing it for the first time?
Kaoru broke into a cold sweat. His mouth went dry as if it were burning from the inside, and he had to force his tongue to move just to wet it with saliva.
He couldn’t help worrying whether she would be able to keep up at the driving school without trouble.
Still, as her husband, he believed she would do well, so Kaoru kept repeating things over and over so she wouldn’t forget.
Whenever their schedules matched, afternoon or late at night, he would take her out with her in the passenger seat and go for drives, letting her watch him drive and get used to it.
Ai, sitting in the right-hand driver’s seat and watching Kaoru drive skillfully with sparkling starry eyes, gave him a thumbs-up and shouted, "You’re so cool, Kaoru!!! You’re amazing at driving~!"
"...Ahem. Ahem! You’ll be able to do this soon too."
He barely managed to suppress the corners of his mouth twitching at his wife’s praise, but his voice failed to hide it.
And so, for several days, Kaoru gave his wife driving lessons that doubled as date drives, with her in the passenger seat.
On days when he didn’t have a schedule, Ai studied hard under close instruction while Kaoru, President Ichigo, or Miyako drove her to the driving school.
Thanks to Kaoru’s devoted care and instruction that could make even a professional teacher weep, Ai gradually became an [invincible driver].
Then about three weeks passed, and at last the long-awaited day of the practical exam at the driving school arrived!
Ai calmly drove the car just as she had been taught, and even managed parallel parking and T-shaped parking.
"...Hoo! Hah! Hoo! Hah! W-wow★ Teacher! Did I pass?!"
She asked, taking her trembling hands off the steering wheel.
"Y-you worked hard, Ms. Hoshino. You passed."
"Kyaaa~!"
Ai had finally passed the practical exam at the driving school on her very first try!
Letting out a thrilling cheer, Ai rushed out of the car the moment she heard the result and ran to Miyako, who was waiting inside the building, and hugged her tightly.
"Miyako! I passed!"
"Oh my?! Really? On the first try?! Kyaaa! Congratulations! We have to call Kaoru right away!"
Miyako and Ai both jumped in place, unable to hide their joy at the practical exam result.
The students and staff who had the good fortune to witness the famous Ai’s happy expression up close were too busy quietly posting about it on Twitter and other social media and internet sites.
"She passed? Wow! Ai, what did I tell you? I said you’d definitely pass!"
Kaoru, too, heard that Ai had passed the practical exam and immediately clenched his fist on set.
With one success after another, Ai was overflowing with confidence, wearing a smug smile as she took her certificate of completion and headed straight to the driver’s license center to take the written exam.
After failing the written exam twice in a row for not scoring high enough, Ai finally passed on her third try.
Ai placed the green license card, the mark of a new license holder, neatly on the table and said with a faintly regretful smile, "Sniff... b-but still... from today on, I’m a d-r-i-v-e-r, you know—★"
"Mama, you’re so cool!!! The best!!!"
"I want to go to kindergarten in a car Mama drives!"
"Hehe~ Th-that’ll have to wait a little longer! Aqua, Ruby! Mama is so happy you’re congratulating me~"
Watching his wife hug the twins tightly and rub her face against them over and over, Kaoru also clapped along and smiled.
"You really worked hard, honey. Now that you’ve got your license, let’s keep getting used to it by driving my car. It’s just like what you did at the driving school. You don’t need to be nervous."
"Okay! I can’t promise the car will come out unscathed, but please!"
"...R-right."
"Kyaaa~"
"I love you, Kaoru!"
He pictured the car he had bought less than two years ago, clean and without a single scratch.
But if it could help his wife improve her driving skills... then a car like that was nothing.
Kaoru hugged his wife, who was in his arms, tightly and smiled.
-
"Happy birthday!"
"Waaah~ Aqua, Ruby! Happy Birth Day~★"
"Kahaha~ Come on, kids! Blow out the candles! Miyako! You’re filming, right?"
"Of course!"
"Hoo!"
After the twins’ fifth birthday, which the whole family spent noisily together, and after Ai got her driver’s license, October arrived.
And finally!
The long-awaited day of the [Shiroyama Gakuin Kindergarten] school recital!
For this day, the principal, along with many teachers and staff members, worked hard to teach the children dance routines and rehearse songs and plays.
The children also practiced diligently whenever they could, doing their best to show their parents something wonderful.
"Ufufufufufu. At last, Ruby’s dance and acting, polished for this day, will be shown to Mama and Papa..."
"......"
"Big brother?"
Ruby tilted her head at Aqua, who for some reason had turned red and looked embarrassed.
Aqua pursed his lips, kneading his cute cheeks with his fingers, then deliberately cleared his throat and said, pretending not to notice his sister’s gaze.
"I-I’m nervous."
"Ah~ Come to think of it, big brother... hehe, are you embarrassed?"
"Y-you’re going too far. Ruby. I’m not embarrassed. I’m n-er-vous!"
"Heheh—just kidding~"
Ruby hugged Aqua’s arm tightly and nodded, playing along with her cute older brother, who was pretending otherwise but was clearly embarrassed in the end.
In her past life, he had been a tall adult named Sam, and now he had become a little child just like her, dancing and acting together at a school recital.
Cute★
Ruby’s starry eyes sparkled with all the cuteness she felt toward her twin brother, and she secretly let out a soft, silly giggle where Aqua couldn’t see.
Then a teacher in a neat women’s suit, with pretty makeup on, opened the classroom door, clapped her hands, and drew the children’s attention.
"All right, everyone! Today, all your parents have come to watch the school recital you’ve worked so hard on! You’re good children, so you need to listen well and keep order, okay? Now then, everyone, we’ll head to the auditorium! Out into the hallway, two lines—hop, hop!"
"""Hop, hop!"""
"Hop, hop★"
"H-hop..."
Unlike Ruby, who bounced out into the hallway with rabbit-like energy, Aqua still wore an embarrassed face as he reluctantly walked outside.
. . .
"Haaah~ ngh..."
"Tired?"
Kaoru smiled as he looked at Ai, who was covering her mouth and yawning deeply.
At his question, Ai slowly shook her head and leaned her head lightly against her husband’s shoulder.
"No... I mean... no matter how much I sleep, I’m still sleepy... It’s Aqua and Ruby’s first recital, after all. Hehe— I was so excited I couldn’t sleep either."
"That much?"
"Yeah. When I saw their names on the program in the handout, wow... it really felt real. Kaoru, what about you? Did you sleep well? Weren’t you all fluttery too?"
"Uh..."
Kaoru averted his eyes from Ai for a moment and looked toward the stage, where the curtains were still closed.
He had been excited, nervous, and restless too, but not enough to lose sleep...
In fact, Kaoru had hugged his wife’s warm body tight, slept soundly, and woken up in better condition than ever.
But if he told her the truth and she got sulky, he had no way to soothe her...
"Actually, I didn’t sleep very well either..."
"Hehe~★ So Kaoru was really looking forward to it too?"
"Of course... It’s their first recital."
Kaoru quietly took out the camcorder, turned it on, and checked that it was working. Watching it from the side, Ai muttered in a voice full of disappointment.
"What a shame. I wanted to film all their practice at home too... The babies would go into their room and practice in secret, you know?"
"Hahah! Really? Hahaha! They must have wanted to show us how hard they’d worked. I should’ve asked Ruby a little more, huh?"
"Ugh... Aqua and Ruby wouldn’t answer no matter how much I asked. I couldn’t even sneak in, so I had to sit outside and endure my curiosity!"
At Ai’s words, which were honestly full of regret and disappointment, Kaoru couldn’t hold back his laughter anymore. He bent his head and laughed so hard his shoulders shook.
While the couple chatted quietly for a while, the other parents seated nearby kept sneaking glances at the Kaoru-Ai couple and secretly taking photos.
Then—
"Ah, yes. We’d appreciate it if you would refrain from filming."
President Ichigo, who had arrived late at the auditorium with Miyako, pointed at a woman’s phone and gave her a warning.
Intimidated by Ichigo’s rough appearance, the woman apologized, and President Ichigo gave a cool nod before crab-walking between the chairs and sitting down beside Kaoru.
"Miyako!"
"Ai! Oh my, you really dressed up beautifully today, didn’t you?"
"Heheh★ Thank you! Miyako looks pretty too!"
"You’re late, aren’t you?"
"There was nowhere to park. Damn it. I just left the car in an alley. I’ll pay the ticket if I get one. Has it started?"
"No. It should be starting soon."
As soon as Kaoru finished speaking, the curtains opened and the principal came out to give a brief greeting and explain the recital guidelines.
Then, starting with the three-and-a-half-year-olds, the performances began in order.
It seemed to be many of their first times performing in front of such a large audience, and quite a few children froze stiff, stood blankly, or fidgeted with their fingers, making one mistake after another.
Fortunately, since they were little children, the parents watched with kind smiles and applauded warmly.
Ai clapped along too and whispered into Kaoru’s ear, "...It’s okay if they make mistakes. I just hope they can show us the fun they had practicing without being scared."
"They practiced hard, so I’m sure they’ll do great."
After the three-and-a-half-year-olds finished, the four-and-a-half-year-olds began their performance.
The four-and-a-half-year-olds also showed songs and dance routines, and then a short but simple play that captured the parents’ attention.
But as expected of children that young, mistakes kept happening, like forgetting lines or freezing up from nerves.
Still, they were so cute that all the parents, including Kaoru and Ai, applauded and cheered for them.
"Now then, it’s time for the five-year-olds. They’ve prepared a cute dance, a song, and a play filled with an exciting story. What kind of story could it be? Please welcome them with applause full of love!"
Clap clap clap!
"It must be the twins’ turn, Kaoru!"
"I’m ready."
Kaoru raised the camcorder and filmed the stage. Ai also clasped her hands together and watched Aqua and Ruby step onto the stage with starry eyes full of nervousness and excitement.
Aqua and Ruby stood in the center with their friends.
Under the lights, their blond hair gleamed. Their eyes were luminous. As twins born from Kaoru and Ai’s blood and talent, they radiated an aura even brighter onstage than off it.
[A baby bullfrog sits by the stream~ croak croak croak~]
To the cute nursery rhyme, Aqua and Ruby hopped around like little frogs and performed an adorable dance.
Ruby wore a bright smile full of cuteness, while Aqua looked embarrassed but did his best.
Watching them sing with their friends and move in perfect rhythm as they danced earnestly...
"Ah..."
Ai’s starry eyes shimmered with waves of emotion as she smiled from ear to ear and let out an exclamation with both hands clasped together.
Kaoru also pressed his lips together and watched the twins’ cute dance directly with his own eyes instead of through the camcorder screen, never once taking his gaze off the stage.
They were so cute, so lovely, so admirable that...
When had those tiny babies grown so much?
Kaoru and Ai watched the twins’ dance without missing a single movement, their eyes full of emotion and pride.
Clap clap clap.
Unlike the three- and four-year-olds, the parents applauded the polished stage performance, which had very few mistakes.
Next, the [Special Short Play - Save the Princess!] prepared by the Sunflower Class and Rose Class began.
After five minutes of bustling behind the curtain to prepare the stage, the children bowed politely to the parents as the curtain opened and then began the play.
"Oh! The Demon King has kidnapped the princess! W-we have to save the princess!"
"I shall go!"
"Kyaa, my son~ so cool~!"
The mother of the boy playing the hero, who had the nickname "Cheetah," clapped and shouted loudly.
Even though there were manners they were supposed to observe, her loud, shameless behavior made Ichigo and Miyako frown deeply and glare toward the front.
Ai, meanwhile, was just looking forward to what role the twins would play.
'So Aqua wasn’t the hero! Could it be... Ruby is the princess?'
Kaoru narrowed his eyes slightly and coldly stared at the boy playing the hero, who looked annoyingly full of himself.
'Ruby will definitely be the princess... The hero role was a complete miscast.'
What exactly was lacking in our son?
Kaoru and Ai, though with slightly different feelings, watched the play while quietly anticipating what role Aqua had been given and what kind of princess Ruby would be.
"Ohhh! There! You have to cross the vines to reach the Demon King’s castle!"
"Yosh! Let’s go!"
Led by the hero, the companions overcame the obstacles and arrived at the Demon King’s castle. And then—
"Kyaa~ Hero, please save us~"
"......"
"......?"
Kaoru tilted his head as he looked at the little girl standing atop a small model shaped like the Demon King’s castle, dressed in a princess dress.
That wasn’t Ruby?
What was going on? Aqua wasn’t the hero, and Ruby wasn’t the princess?!
Kaoru’s blue eyes flashed with a crimson [starlight] that burst like a supernova. Feeling his hand trembling around the camcorder, he quickly turned on the video stabilization function.
Ai didn’t act as obviously as Kaoru, but as the play moved into its latter half and neither Aqua nor Ruby appeared, she gradually began to worry.
It would have been fine even if they were just extras like a tree or a rock, but if the twins were feeling down because they thought Kaoru and Ai had been disappointed, Ai began to wonder how she should comfort them.
Then!
Rumble!
With a clap of thunder, the lights flickered rapidly, and—
"Ah! It’s the Demon King and the witch!"
One of the hero’s companions pointed at the model castle and shouted.
In an instant, all the lights shone on the two figures that had appeared beside the princess.
"Hmph."
Aqua, wearing a long cape like Count Dracula and looking down coldly at the hero’s party with smoky eye makeup, and—
"Hmph~"
Ruby, who wore a witch’s dress where black and red blended seductively together instead of a pink princess dress, her red eyes glittering as she smiled wickedly.
The appearance of villains lurking in the shadows behind a vast hidden mastermind, concealing tremendous power!
It was so overwhelming, with such an aura and charisma, that it was hard to believe these were performances by five-year-old children.
"""......"""
The parents watching the play could only break out in goosebumps at the same time.
The appearance of the Aqua-Ruby siblings, who looked exactly like Kaoru and Ai not only in appearance but also in acting ability and charisma!
The atmosphere shifted in an instant, and the hero’s party, stunned by the twins’ presence, couldn’t continue their next line.
Aqua looked at the hero’s party, quietly exhaled through his nose, and naturally improvised while pointing at the princess.
"You dare come to steal the princess from me?"
Aqua’s voice was so cold and bleak it made bones ache.
The hero flinched and nodded instead of delivering his line.
If things continued like this, the play would become an unprecedented disaster and never move forward.
Ruby met Aqua’s eyes for a moment, then let a wicked smile bloom across her face and shouted with the force of someone who could crush the hero’s party with nothing but a look.
"Then—try defeating us and taking the princess back! But do you really think... you can? Kya-hahahaha★"
The hero’s party began to tremble on their feet. This wasn’t a play anymore; it was a horrific dark fairy tale in which they were about to sacrifice their lives to the worst and most terrifying beings, who even made the courage to oppose them die in their throats.
"W-waaaah! Save ussss!"
Worse still, the princess wasn’t acting either—she really was scared and burst into tears.
"Th-then, g-give her back!"
"G-give her back!"
"...Give her back!"
In the end, the hero’s party forgot all their lines and began waving their toy swords at the air, eventually staging a sit-in beneath the model Demon King’s castle.
The teacher, watching anxiously from below the stage, ended up pressing a hand to her forehead and collapsing into a chair.
To somehow wrap up the play, which had been utterly ruined compared to rehearsal, Aqua met Ruby’s eyes for a moment, then subtly nodded toward the princess with a jut of his chin.
"Heh. Very well. Since your courage is admirable..."
"You may take the princess if you want. Kya-hahahat~★"
"Waaah... Huh? I-I get to come down?"
♬♪♩~
Grand music for a rushed ending played, and the teacher hurried onto the stage to have the children bow. Then the performance came to a close.
Clapclap clap clap!
Even so, the parents responded with hotter applause than before.
"Kyaaa! No way! No way! The scary Demon King and witch were Aqua and Ruby?! I can’t believe it—★"
Ai, her starry eyes sparkling brightly, couldn’t escape the whirlpool of excitement and delight, and kept patting Kaoru’s shoulder.
Ichigo and Miyako seemed the same.
"Wait, what? Did you coach them?"
"That wasn’t the kind of acting you’d expect from a kindergarten recital!"
They kept asking, staring at Kaoru and Ai with shocked eyes.
"......"
Kaoru quietly saved the video and lowered the camcorder, staring blankly at the stage.
The performance Aqua and Ruby had shown was... a series of surprises that far exceeded Kaoru’s imagination.
Especially Aqua’s ability to read the whole stage and improvise on the spot to match Ruby, and Ruby’s deep character analysis and her excellent emotional acting, which responded to Aqua in real time while also making her own charm stand out...
'Ha. Impossible.'
As an [actor], Kaoru knew.
This was violence in the form of unfair talent itself.
If this was the result of the two of them simply practicing from the crude school recital script without any special coaching...
"Ai."
"Mm!"
"Thank you for giving birth to the twins. Thank you so much."
A chill shot up his spine, and he swallowed dryly without meaning to.
Kaoru’s blue eyes, having confirmed the blinding brilliance of that talent, shone brilliantly for a moment.
-
After the recital ended successfully, the family returned home and the Saito couple held a post-party barbecue, grilling the premium beef set they had bought together.
"Aqua, Ruby! Mama’s going to grill the meat, so eat a looooot! Okay?"
"Yeeees!"
"Thank you, Mom!"
Ai, who had filled her starry eyes to the brim with her children’s wonderful, admirable, and praiseworthy 모습, couldn’t stop smiling from sheer happiness.
"Wow~ Kyaa~ This is why you have to live long enough to see everything! I’ve lived long enough to see the twins’ recital too! Once they enter elementary school, I’ll have seen it all!"
"...Why are you suddenly talking like someone who’s about to die tomorrow?"
At Miyako’s jab, President Ichigo chuckled and took another sip of his drink.
Kaoru smiled quietly and handed cups filled with water instead of alcohol to Ai and the twins.
"There’s plenty of meat, so eat slowly and chew well. Okay?"
"Okay~!"
"Yes!"
Kaoru and Ai looked at the twins, who answered in bright, birdlike voices, with joyful eyes.
At those dripping looks of love and affection, Miyako rested her chin in her hand and stared at them for a moment before suddenly snapping her fingers as if she had thought of something.
"Oh! Right. I wanted to talk about this. I had a strange dream a few days ago, you know?"
"Huh? A dream?"
"What kind of dream was it?"
Miyako’s eyes sparkled as she clapped once, then began explaining like a storyteller, as if the memory were still vivid.
"I was suddenly walking through a valley. But then... this huge pond appeared out of nowhere! There were lotus flowers blooming, and birds flying around. It was so beautiful that I was about to lie down there and take a nap. Then all of a sudden, lightning struck, and a dragon the size of a mansion came down with a whoosh! It gave me a shining bead and flew off. But then!"
"But then?"
When Ai chimed in with an excited expression, Miyako pointed at her and said, "Then Ai suddenly appeared, swallowed the bead whole, and I hugged Ai tight and started jumping around! It’s still so vivid I can’t forget it."
"...That’s just a weird dream."
"It’s not a weird dream! The boss always dreams about winning the lottery!"
"That is a strange dream, isn’t it?"
When Ai spoke with sparkling starry eyes, Kaoru nodded too.
As superstition went... Kaoru had already experienced enough himself that he couldn’t possibly dismiss the dream as meaningless.
Usually, dreams that grand and epic are...
"A pregnancy dream..."
"Mmph?!"
Ai, who had been about to hand meat to the twins’ plates, suddenly clapped a hand over her mouth and gagged.
At Ai’s retching—
All at once, everyone at the table turned to stare at her.
Ai’s starry eyes, hidden behind her hand, trembled.
A strange silence settled over the table.
"......"
"......"
Kaoru and Ai stared blankly into each other’s eyes.
Ai, who had instantly thought of her menstrual cycle, and Kaoru, who had thought of the last time they had made love without contraception.
"Ah."
Aqua, frozen in the exact posture he had been eating in—
Ruby, frozen in the exact posture she had been drinking water in—
President Ichigo, mouth hanging open, and Miyako, who dropped the chopsticks she had been holding—
"""Eeeeh?!!!!!!!!!!!!"""
All of them cried out in alarm at the same time.
Later, Ruby would say that the day after the great incident known as "Miyae-mon’s blessing"—
the Kaoru-Ai couple secretly visited an obstetrics and gynecology clinic and received the happy news that Ai was seven weeks pregnant.
It was the moment a new family member was born for Kaoru, Ai, and the twins.
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