I hurried back to my parents' house.

　I flew through the night and it was already morning.
　I'm exhausted, but more than that, anxiety drives me on.

'Laina!'

　He kicked the door open with a mighty kick and ran into the front door.
　Then he ran into the living room.

''Are you okay?''

　My mother and father were eating a leisurely meal there.
　It was the usual peaceful morning scene.

'Arelle-chan?'
You're back.

　But there was no sign of Laina.

"Rah, where's Laina?
Laina...

　And that's when Laina comes into the living room with a mix of absent-mindedness.

'Laina!　You're safe!
Oh, Arel?

　I ran to her side and tried to hug her with all the momentum I had, and then I realized something.
　Laina was holding the baby.
　And two of them.
　She was still asleep and looking sleepy.

'Um ... where's the baby from?'
Your baby, of course.
What?

　I cringed at those words, which were said with a dumbfounded look on my face.
　My child...?

You mean, me and Laina's kid...?
'Of course. You wouldn't be holding someone else's child. Twins, by the way. A boy and a girl.

　Upon closer inspection, I saw that they both had the same red hair as Laina.
　The boy looks a lot like me when he was little.
　The girl looks just like Laina.

　It was six months ago that I left town to chase after Mila.
　Generally speaking, a child was born about five months after conception.

''Totally, it's an unfit father to even be present at the birth.

　Laina was smiling somewhat happily, even though she said it accusingly.

　The girl is still out of it, but the boy seems to be waking up and looks at me with a strange look on his face.

'This is your father,'

　As I tell her that, Laina tries to hand the boy over to me.

'Can I hold him?'
'You're a father, of course it's good. But you must be nice to him.
Oh, yeah.

　I took the baby with trepidation.
　It was so small and light that it looked like it was going to break.

　He showed no signs of crying, even though he was suddenly in the arms of a stranger.
　Does he understand that I am the father?

Uh-oh.

　But all of a sudden, he scowled.
　She stretches her arms toward her mother, as if she wants to get away from me.

　She doesn't seem to like it.
　Maybe it's my first time, so I can't blame her, but I'm a bit shocked.

　But then Laina wrinkles her brow as she moves her nose toward me.

You stink. You should've given her a bath before you let me hold her.

　Apparently, the reason the boys didn't like it was because my body smelled bad.
　I could certainly smell it myself and it smelled like sweat.

　I handed the twins back to Laina and I decided to take a bath.

'But what the hell was that, what was the rush earlier?'
No, I hope you're okay. I mean, yeah. What about Mira?
'I'm sure Mira would still be sleeping in her room.
You're home, aren't you?
Yeah. Was it the day before yesterday?　I was home before I knew it in the morning.

　I patted my chest.

　That old lady tricked me.
　No, I was right up to the information that Mira had gone home to her parents.

　Maybe she thought it would be irksome to just tell me.
　She's a totally inedible old woman.






　When I came out of the bath, the girl was fully awake.
　Laina hugged her and said, "It's your father," but she looked puzzled.

　........cute.

　Boys are cute too, but girls are even cuter.
　It's probably because they look like Laina.

　She's been properly bathed and cleaned up, and she shouldn't smell.
　I tried to get the girl to let me hold her.

'Uhhhh!'

　But as soon as it was about to be handed to me, the girl started crying loudly.
　Clinging to her mother.

'Gah!'

　I'm in for a much bigger shock than I was earlier.
　I don't even smell weird now.
　So it's pure rejection.

　In contrast to my depressed state, Laina chuckles.

Don't worry about it so much. This one is a little shy. She'll get used to it. She'll let you hold her. Alright, that's it, don't worry. He's not a scary old man.
Agggh.

　Dad came over from the side and said proudly.

'Haha, Arel is your father and he doesn't like you. Dad will let you hold him properly. Come to Jieji.

　With a sickening smile, Dad extends his arm to his grandson.

'Ya!'

　It was rejected easily.

''Gah... why... why... you let me hold you yesterday...''

　Dad crumbles to the ground. 'Oh, dear.

"You're in the wrong place at the wrong time, Dad. I want my mom now. Huh?　And you don't mind your grandmother?　Oh dear.

　The mother receives her granddaughter with an unusually happy look on her face.
　She must be used to dealing with children, having given birth to three children and raised them.

'Bah.'
Yeah, yeah, yeah, it's me.

　The girls seemed to miss it completely.

'Speaking of which, what about the boys?'
'I'll be in the garden with Mila. She likes to be outside for some reason.

　Mom tells me.
　I look out the window and see Mila sitting on a bench in the yard, holding a boy in her arms.
　And she is patting the boy's head somewhat lovingly.

'At any rate, Mira looks fine too,'

　I'm still not sure why I left the house after all, but I'm back safely, so I guess that's good.

　After that, we had to decide on the twins' names.
　Apparently, it was decided to wait until after I got back.

Hm, how about Kiki and Lara then?
'I don't know why, but I have a feeling that's an absolute no-no...'