"RYUUBI...PREGNANT?"

Everyone was present at the dinner table, except Ryuubi.

"Did Aneue really say she didn't want dinner?" Kanu asked.

"Yes, that's what she said," Kochu confirmed. "Such a shame too. Nagata-sama and I prepared such a fabulous spread."

"Yeah, she's missing out on a delicious meal," Nagata added in agreement.

"Did she say why she didn't want any dinner?" Iori asked.

"Maybe Touka-neechan has a tummy ache," Riri suggested, worried.

Kanu recounted her sworn sister's recently odd behavior, "She was sighing, with her hands on her stomach. I asked her about it, but she told me not to worry."

"Maybe she does have a stomachache and doesn't want to bother us," suggested Nagata.

"I did ask her if she wanted me to make her any medicine, but she told me she wasn't sick," added Komei, also worried.

"I can't imagine not eating for a whole day," said Chouhi, concerned for her big sister too. It just wasn't like Ryuubi to refuse a meal prepared by Nagata or Kochu.

"If she's so worried about her stomach, even though she claims she's not sick..." started Bacho.

Batai interjected, "Could she be pregnant?"

Immediately, everyone at the dinner table gasped.

Kanu shot out of her seat while Komei's face turned beet red.

"There's no way! There's no way! Aneue can't be pregnant!" Kanu denied vehemently.

Kochu spoke thoughtfully from her own experience, "When I was carrying Riri, there were times when I had terrible cases of morning sickness and didn't want to eat anything."

"Then that means...does that mean...is Aneue...?" Kanu couldn't make a coherent thought or sentence.

Kochu, realizing what she had done, gently tried to calm Kanu down and said, "That doesn't necessarily mean she's pregnant, Aisha."

"Yeah, there has to be another logical explanation," added Nagata helpfully.

"Is Touka-neechan going to have a baby?" Riri asked excitedly.

"If that was true, then who's the father?" Chou'un asked. As soon as she said that, everyone turned their heads and aimed their gazes on the only unmarried man in the room.

Nagata blinked and asked, "...Why are you guys looking at me like that?"

"Don't you have anything to say, Nagata?" Iori asked accusingly.

"Iori, you're scaring me," Nagata shuddered as Iori glared at him.

"Well, Touka did say she wanted to have your children, so it only makes sense that-"

"You think I'm the father!?" Nagata yelled as he slammed his hands on the table and stood up. "NO WAY! IT'S NOT ME! YOU GOT THE WRONG GUY!"

"Well, it's not me. I would never be unfaithful to Shion," Iori defended. "And who else does Touka have her eyes on but you?"

"Come on! There has to be a good explanation for this!" Nagata cried.

"Nagata-sama, I think you may need to take responsibility for this," quipped Chou'un.

"Aisha, you believe me, right? There's no way I got Touka pregnant!" Nagata looked to his girlfriend.

"I think we should calm down," said Bacho, being the voice of reason. "Maybe Touka's pregnant, maybe she has a bad stomachache, we can't know for sure. So we can't accuse Nagata-sama of doing something like that."

"Thanks, Sui."

"But if you did get Touka pregnant, you have to be a man and take responsibility. My father taught me that a man who leaves a pregnant woman to fend for herself is the worst kind of scum."

"Trust me; I didn't get Touka pregnant. We haven't even done that," said Nagata.

"Done what?" Riri and Chouhi asked in unison.

"I'll explain when you're older," Nagata and Iori answered simultaneously.

In the end, they found out that Ryuubi wasn't pregnant. She just got a stomachache from eating some spoiled menma after starving herself with her new diet. She admitted that she just wanted to lose some weight.

Although, when told that everyone thought she might be pregnant and Nagata was the father, she seemed oddly thoughtful. Was she wondering what it would be like to have Nagata's baby?

Who knows?

*Idea from Bloodyredrose1994, based on Shin Koihime Musou Otome Tairan