New chapter here. It's been a long week, believe it or not, but I got into another accident. Last time, I got hit by a car, this time it was a bike. The doctor was like "you again?!". Hahaha... I recovered just fine since it was just a bike, I'm getting scared of walking on the streets though. Well, forget that stuff, onwards to the story!

Chapter 4

Yotsuba Residence, one day after Ayako resolved herself

"Excuse us, Toushu-sama."

"Come in, Mitsugu-san, Fumiya-san."

"Eh? Nee-san is already here?"

Mitsugu and Fumiya were called to a small room. While they were not informed about the contents of the talk, it was said that it was really important for the both of them. And to their surprise, not only Maya but Ayako was also there.

"I actually spoke with Ayako-san yesterday. This concerns Ayako-san more than anyone else in this room after all."

"Is it something that important? I don't think any of other family heads know anything about this though..."

"They will be informed later. This concerns the Kuroba the most, and above all, you two who are Ayako-san's closest relatives."

"The Kuroba?"

"What is it, Toushu-sama?"

"It has to do with my previous announcement, the one about Tatsuya-san and Miyuki-san."

""!""

The talk hasn't even begun yet and Mitsugu's instincts were telling him that he was definitely not going to like where it was headed to. Fumiya too, had a feeling things were going to turn ugly soon.

"I made a little deal with the USNA and the Saegusa, you see? It..."

Small talk… Small talk…

"...and that's about it."

"...!"

"T-That's…!"

"I know you two are worried, but this is something I gave my consent to. I know better than anyone that if I let this chance get away, I will regret it for the rest of my life."

Mitsugu was just frozen in shock, unable to utter a single word. Fumiya still managed to squeeze a few words but his blush was impossible to miss. Fumiya never got into a relationship with anyone so this kind of talk, not mention one about polygamy, was too much for him.

"I-I see. Then, congratulations, Nee-san!"

"...Thank you Fumiya. Your words were, somehow, just as I predicted though."

"Fufu! Indeed, but what about you Mitsugu-san? What do you have to say about it?"

"T-Toushu-sama, I cannot agree with such thing!"

"We all know that, Mitsugu-san. But do tell me, what can you say to convince me to change my mind?"

"Toushu-sama, you should be already aware of what I think!"

"I am indeed, but I don't see a single reason to say you are right. As I already said, this will help us defend against outside threats and, most importantly, it's what your daughter wishes for."

"Even if we gather more allies, we also gather more enemies as well! It's far too risky!"

"What are you saying at this point? Haven't we all resolved ourselves at that day? The day Yotsuba Maya 'died' and Yotsuba Genzou passed away, we all swore to never allow anyone, be it an organization or a country, to rob us of our happiness ever again."

"...Gh! That's...!"

"Not to mention, shouldn't you be happier for Ayako-san? Your daughter's long cherished dream is finally going to be fulfilled, after all."

"There's no way I could be happy with this! I don't my daughter to suffer because of that thing!"

"Otou-sama!"

"Otou-sama that's going too far!"

Just as the Kuroba twins were about to raise their complaints, Maya silenced them by raising her hand. Though Ayako and Maya already discussed about Mitsugu's behaviour beforehand, they didn't expected him to say those things when he was before the clan head.

"...Mitsugu-san, did you forget that Tatsuya-san is my son now? While I understand that it's hard for some people to change their perception from the 'bastard of the Yotsuba' to the 'son of the Yotsuba Head', you are clearly stepping over the line."

"...Toushu-sama, I apologize for my rude remarks but you should understand it as well. He… Tatsuya-kun is not someone we should have even exposed to the world. He is too dangerous for the world and for us."

"Otou-sama..."

"..."

The other three on the room, all had different reactions to Mitsugu's words. Fumiya had a sad look on his face, the question 'why do you still say cruel things?' clearly reflected on his eyes. Ayako on the other hand, knew of the circumstances of Tatsuya's birth, as such, she displayed a slightly angry expression at Mitsugu. As for Maya, she knew Mitsugu how felt from the beginning so she kept her composure.

"Mitsugu-san, as far as I recall, Ayako-san and Fumiya-san were saved by Tatsuya-san before, right? Even your arm, if it weren't for Tatsuya-san, you would be a one-armed man, wouldn't you? Not to mention, the countless other times we relied on Tatsuya-san's abilities."

"That was just..."

"Otou-sama, at this point you can't say that you didn't ask for his help."

"Ayako..."

"...Otou-sama, no matter what the others say about Tatsuya-niisan, I still find it hard to understand. Tatsuya-niisan can do what nobody else can and he also helped Nee-san use her magic properly. Why do you hate him so much?"

"..."

That same question was repeated many times through the years, never to be answered. This time though, Fumiya felt that something was different. Somehow, Ayako and Maya were giving a different feeling, and Fumiya felt that now, he could get a proper answer. While Tatsuya couldn't use magic properly, his other abilities more than made up for it. The scorn he received from the clan heads, mostly from Mitsugu, was just incomprehensible for the younger generation.

Ayako sent a small glance towards Maya, who nodded her head as a response. Ayako understood that when Maya warned her not to share Tatsuya's origins with Fumiya, she didn't mean to say that it would be better to keep Fumiya in the dark, she meant that it would be better to wait for the right timing to tell him. This was the ideal situation, Mitsugu was left with no escape, either he would talk about Tatsuya's birth and try explain his reasons or Ayako and Maya would talk instead and show Fumiya how self-centered his reasons were. While Mitsugu was no genius in reading people, he could guess from the timing that this entire situation was planned by the two women present in the room and, seemingly, he prefered to speak by himself.

"...After the Dahan incident, we wished for a way to protect the clan from outside threats, however, some of us actually wished for revenge against the world. We placed all of our hopes on Miya-san's son that was about to be born and… they became reality, which made us realise that we were wrong. A young boy with the power to recover from any wound and the power to destroy everything. He is simply too dangerous, he doesn't has any attachments to this world, save for his sis- his fiancee, one slip and this world will be destroyed."

"W-Wait, Otou-sama! Tatsuya-niisan didn't do anything wrong! I-If anything else, it was…!"

"It was just you, Otou-sama."

"A-Ayako?!"

"Nee-san!?"

Contrary to Fumiya's stuttering, Ayako sent a short, even cold, response to Mitsugu. Nobody ever saw Ayako acting like that towards her father, surprising Fumiya and Mitsugu. They could tell there was no hatred in her tone but it was full of disappointment and seriousness.

"Otou-sama, when you say that you can't accept my engagement with Tatsuya-san, for whose sake do you speak? Is it really for me? Isn't it just for yourself?"

"A-Ayako, there's no way I could let you stay with him! Like I said, he is too dangerous! And now that he is known to the entire world, there's no telling what kind of problems will arise around him!"

"Then, we just have to deal with them. After all, we are THE Yotsuba clan. Not to mention, we will have the cooperation from other renowned groups with this engagement plan, won't we?"

"It's still not absolute. Ayako, I'm saying he won't make you happy. He only cares about Miyuki-san, he was just using you to get more allies in the Yotsuba."

"Otou-sama! That's going too far!"

"...I'm astonished. Otou-sama, despite everything that happened, I never thought you could be so shameless."

"W-What?!"

"Nee-san?!"

"Otou-sama, you always talk as if Tatsuya-san is someone who hates you and plots to make you miserable, but isn't this a contradiction? After all, Otou-sama himself said it, Tatsuya-san doesn't care about anything aside from Miyuki-oneesama."

"!"

"That 'monster' only exists in your head. And I'm sure you realised it as well, Tatsuya-san is just not interested in you. Despite everything you did to him, he doesn't even bother to hate or dislike you, Otou-sama is just another person who mistreated Tatsuya-san. Nothing worthy of mention."

"!"

Ayako's merciless words left Mitsugu and Fumiya speechless. They never expected Ayako to speak like that to her own father. Maya, on the other hand, was silently and delightely watching that scene. Maya was going to intervene if Ayako needed help, but Ayako was surpassing her expectations.

"Otou-sama, I'm only talking to you like this because this has gone far enough. You already wasted years of your life despising someone who never did anything to you. You are only making yourself suffer without reason and I want to put a stop to this."

"...Ayako, I know that Tatsuya-kun has done a lot for you, but you have to understand. His very existence is wrong, he is the very personification of the worst sins of the Yotsuba."

"And? Hasn't he done enough to prove otherwise? Tatsuya-san already developed magics to help the world and he is planning on creating more. And those sins were all committed by the old generation, please stop shifting the blame."

"...!"

"...Otou-sama, I'm not asking you to befriend Tatsuya-san. I only want you to stop your unreasonable hatred against him. Even you must realise, deep down, that it is not Tatsuya-san's fault and you are just pushing your guilt on him."

"!"

Mitsugu recalled that Tatsuya once said something similar to him. Tatsuya said Mitsugu's behaviour originated from some pathetic guilt, which infuriated Mitsugu. However, hearing it from his own daughter caused Mitsugu to actually start looking past all his resentment and try to see things as they really were.

"...Otou-sama, I also agree with Nee-san. I wasn't there when Tatsuya-niisan was born, but I don't think his existence is a mistake. I mean, do you think it's okay to deny Nee-san of her place in the Yotsuba, Otou-sama? Nee-san only secured her place as a magician of the Yotsuba because of Tatsuya-niisan after all, denying him is like denying Nee-san."

"Fumiya! That's…!"

"Otou-sama, with or without your approval, I will go through with this plan. I just, don't want to lose my connection to you! I want to stay by Tatsuya-san's side but I don't want to distance myself from you! So please, stop tormenting yourself over your guilt!"

"...Ayako."

More than frustrated, Mitsugu was shocked by Ayako's behaviour. The way she spoke showed how hard she thought about this before saying all these things. She spoke not only as a girl who wanted to marry Tatsuya, but also as his daughter who was worried about him. Exactly because of that, Mitsugu couldn't just shrug it off as a naive way of thinking. Mitsugu understood that Ayako was saying everything without restraint because she was worried about him and wanted to make sure he took her seriously.

"...Haha. At this point, I'm just adding to Nee-san's comments but, Otou-sama, simply judging that Tatsuya-san is evil without even looking at him properly, isn't that just like the enemies we hate so much?"

"!"

As Fumiya said, some of their enemies were people who just had a simple way of thinking, 'if it's not under our control, it must be eliminated'. The Yotsuba hated these groups and were feared by them. But now, Mitsugu realised that he has been doing something similar the entire time, he just judged by himself that Tatsuya was dangerous and decided that killing him would be better.

(...Just what have I been doing this entire time?)

More than anything, Mitsugu was stunned by his children's reactions. Ayako was on the verge of tears. Only now Mitsugu realised that it wasn't just Tatsuya and himself, he was also making his children suffer. This entire time, the one bringing suffering to his children was no one other than himself. But, even so, there was still one more thing.

"...Ayako, you know that Tatsuya-kun will always think about Miyuki-san more than anyone. Can you go on knowing that you will never be first place?"

"...Otou-sama, anyone can tell that Miyuki-san will always be his priority. Still, I want to stay by Tatsuya-san's side. I already resolved myself to never feel the despair from that time ever again, I won't let this chance slip away no matter what."

"...I see."

"...Does that mean Nee-san has your permission, Otou-sama?"

"..."

""Otou-sama?""

"...At this point in time, I don't really feel I'm in position to even say you need my permission."

"Then…!"

"But that doesn't mean I will get friendly with him!"

"It's enough."

"And if he ever makes you cry, I will kill him!"

"Then we don't have anything to worry about."

"You… You did it, Nee-san!"

"Thanks to your support."

"No, I… just followed you lead."

"Let's just say 'we did it' then."

"...Yes. We did it Nee-san."

*clap* *clap*

"Nicely done, Ayako-san."

"Toushu-sama said that I should go as far I could on my own, so I had to live up to the expectations."

"Fufufu! You really did. But it's getting late and we should wrap this up. Very soon, Ayako-san will have a girls meeting with your fellow brides. The ones that were already chosen anyway. Who knows how many more will we have? I can't help but to look forward to it."

"...Toushu-sama, your face looks a little evil."

"..."

Fumiya felt that a commotion was inbound and Mitsugu was twitching everytime they spoke about the plan, but managed to calm himself down. Ayako, though, was too happy with herself to care about any of that. And then, a flame started burning on her chest, Ayako was resolved to be the second wife no matter what. She was his cousin after all, she definitely knew Tatsuya better than a senpai or a transfer student from the USNA did. Even if she couldn't win against Miyuki, Ayako had no intention of losing to anyone else when it came to Tatsuya.

(Just you two wait, I won't lose!)

A sudden miracle, that modern science and magic cannot explain, happened. A perfectly synchronized sneeze in the Saegusa household and a sneeze overseas, in the STARS base as well, another girl went to sleep with hope for a happy future.

Important: Erika's pool will be closed some weeks from now, meaning when I release the next one or two chapters. There's still a lot of time but I just felt like saying "you don't have all the time in the world". Once again, please just accept whatever results come out, it's a fair and square pool.