"Hey, how long are you going to keep pouting like that?" Rihito asked helplessly, his voice tinged with exasperation as all four women avoided his gaze.
"Shea, get off me, will you? You too, Tohru."
Shea clung to his waist like a stubborn koala, while Tohru hugged him tightly from behind, refusing to let go.
[Help me, you two.] Rihito's pleading eyes turned to Shizuku and Remia, but they ignored him. [Don't ignore me!]
Sniff…
Sniff…
"Papa? Are you really leaving us?" Myu's trembling voice broke the silence, her eyes brimming with tears.
"..."
"Huh?" Rihito froze, startled.
Myu clutched his coat like a lifeline. "Myu, as I said, things aren't that simple. There are many things I have to fix, or something terrible might happen to us," he explained gently.
"Th-then… can't we go together?" Her tearful eyes pierced his heart like daggers.
[Uggh!]
"That's not possible. You saw that big bad monster, didn't you? It ran away, and I have to chase it down to make sure it doesn't hurt anyone." He rubbed her tears away with his thumb.
"B-but… I don't want… P-papa to go away," she sobbed, her nose reddening.
"Hey, don't cry. It's not like I'm going forever; I'll be back." Rihito patted her head softly.
Fortunately for Rihito, his eyes met Remia's just then. Understanding his unspoken request, she decided to help him. She took Myu from his arms and began to soothe her.
He sighed exasperatedly before turning his attention back to Shea. "How long are you going to keep hugging my waist like that?"
"Until you take me with you," she replied instantly, her voice trembling with stubbornness.
"You know that's not possible." He caressed her bunny ears, trying to ease her frustration. "Come on now, stand up."
Shea reluctantly rose, still clutching his coat. "My eyes will be useful there. With them, I can anticipate the monster's movements, and together we can defeat it."
Like Tohru, she also tried to give him a reason, but his answer still didn't change.
Rihito shook his head. "It's precisely because of those eyes that I can't take you with me. If you join me, your ability to see the future,
"..."
"Uggh!" Shea's face fell, her ears drooping.
"Now, don't make a face like that. More than with me, I want you to stay here. You know we are practically going to war with the church. If all goes as I hope, I will be back before it. But if, for some reason, I don't, and it takes longer, you all need to work together to stay alive. Will you do that for me?" He stroked her bunny ears just the way she liked.
Shea gritted her teeth. She understood what he wanted to say, but it still stung nonetheless.
"Fine! I will do it, but for this, you owe me a lot of alone time, just us." Shea suddenly grabbed him by the collar and pulled him closer, giving him a deep, passionate, emotion-charged kiss.
"Smouchhhh…slurp…Mmmmmhh…"
"..."
She was practically venting her frustration through the kiss, and he allowed it, knowing there would probably be a while before our next one. When she was satisfied enough, she withdrew.
He felt Tohru's grip on his waist and shoulder tighten.
[Well, it's time to address her concerns.]
"Tohru? Can you let go a bit?"
Sensing the loosened grip, Rihito turned around to see her, eyes cast downward.
"Tohru," Rihito spoke in a soothing tone, "you know. There's a reason I feel so relaxed about leaving. It's because you are here, reassuring me." Rihito looked at her with trusting eyes.
"While I'm away, I will be counting on you to keep them safe. Because I know in my absence, you will be here to deal with anything to out of hand threatening them. Can I trust you to do that for me?"
Tohru finally looked up, looking straight into his eyes for a long minute and nodded.
"Can I ask you something?" she whispered, emotions flickering in her eyes.
"Of course you can; go on." Rihito waited for her request.
"Not now, right before you are about to leave," she said.
"Sure?" It was a bit of an odd request, but it was fine.
Then he looked at Shizuku.
"I will be counting on you to keep everything together. You know how chaotic and rowdy everyone can get; there's at least one level-headed, sane person needed to keep everyone in check."
Shizuku looked at him with a mix of emotions. Having read a few manga about time travel on top of being from the modern era, she understood better than most how difficult and dangerous it could be. At first, she wanted to stop him, but after hearing his explanation, she realised that it was essential for the present to remain intact. If that creature were left alone, who knew what changes it could bring? The timeline would shift unpredictably over those five years. It was entirely possible that all the people she knew from this world might never be born, get replaced or die early. To prevent all that, she understood what needed to be done.
"I won't stop you," she began, fully aware of the gravity of his decision. "I understand that this needs to be done. The only thing I ask is that you return to us, to me," she said, gazing directly into his eyes.
Hearing those words from her, Rihito couldn't help but pull her in for a hug. It really warmed his heart as he wrapped his arms around her waist.
"Hey, do you want me to carry you like a princess here? It will be a while before I can do it again," Rihito proposed, smiling teasingly.
Shizuku's eyes widened; her face immediately turned crimson.
"Wah!" she squeaked in embarrassment. But noticing he was teasing her, she pinched his stomach. "Dummy."
"Ouch! Aow! Aow! I am sorry!" Rihito groaned in pain.
"Stop acting. I know you are not feeling the pain," she squinted.
"What? Was my acting that bad?" Rihito stopped acting and smirked.
In response, Shizuku wrapped her arms around Rihito, tightening her grip. "I will miss you," she whispered.
"I will miss you too, my princess," he whispered the last part in her ear.
Shizuku also wanted a kiss from him, but in front of so many people, she felt embarrassed, so she did the next best thing. She took advantage of the proximity and pecked his cheek near his lips and backed away.
"Be safe," she whispered.
"I will."
Finally, came the most troubled part of this temporary separation. Rihito looked at Remia and Myu.
Myu was pouting with tears now.
"Myu, do you remember what I said before? At the time, when I went to the labyrinth?"
Myu looked down, remembering. "You said that; I am still not ready yet."
"Right. From that time, you have been training with all of us and have seen how we all train and improve. Do you still think you are ready yet?" Rihito spoke gently, pointing out her flawed thinking.
He decided that instead of rejecting her directly, he would let Myu figure it out on her own. That would be much more effective.
"I know you are improving and training hard to master all the exercises I teach you. But you need to understand your current limits."
"You know, even for your big sisters and big brother, it will be dangerous there. In my estimation, only Hajime, with fully equipped gear, along with Tohru and me, individually, would have a safe enough chance of handling that monster. So, tell me, do you think you are ready?"
"..."
Myu was silent and spoke after a pause.
"I-I… I am still not ready…" Myu thought about it. She had seen how hard everyone trained. She spoke in a tiny voice all by herself after thinking.
Rihito patted her head, smiling. He was happy she understood why she was not eligible; well, even if she was strong enough, he still wouldn't take her. But that's something she doesn't need to know.
"Right, so while I am away, no slacking on the basic training, and if you need help, ask Hajime or any of your big sisters, ok?"
"I…will train hard so that next time something like this happens, I can help Papa and everyone." Myu looked at me with determined eyes.
"That's the spirit." Rihito paused for a second, thinking about something.
"You know what?" Rihito suddenly said as he dropped his trench coat. Using his creation magic, he resized it to fit Myu perfectly. In the process, he also embedded a pseudo-divine stone that he had crafted during his breaks over the past few months while working on creating a real divine stone. He was close to achieving that goal. Soon enough, he would be able to create a genuine divine stone. But for now, this pseudo stone would provide enough mana for the coat, preventing it from draining Myu's mana too much.
"Myu, come here."
Once she complied, Rihito asked her to raise her hands. He then placed his resized coat on her.
"Well, I had something else in mind for you, but you can have this instead." Rihito buttoned up the coat. He also attached a furry hoodie for her.
"Perfect, this will keep you safe in my absence. What do you think?" Rihito asked.
Myu looked all over and twirled around in happiness. "It's perfect, Papa. With this, I will work even harder."
Satisfied, Rihito turned to Remia. "Guess I'll have to take a rain check on that alone time."
"Fufufufu…Don't worry, darling, we will meet again soon enough, then I can have you all to myself. You will see."
For some reason, that tone sounded a bit weird, but seeing nothing wrong with her words, Rihito thought she was talking about the time he would eventually come back, which, to him, sounded normal, and he nodded along.
Rihito, now only wearing a black T-shirt on top, turned to Hajime and tossed a storage ring at him.
"In my absence, you have to complete that project on your own now." Rihito's tone sounded mildly disappointed.
Hajime caught the ring and used his newly acquired
"It seems you have prepared everything we needed to build that?" Hajime states.
"Of course I did. I have also enhanced the crystal for energy absorption. The previous crystal you chose was just too fragile. I also left a few failed divine stones. They are stable, but can only be used once as a battery. The rest I will leave to you. I'm sure after it is complete, it will be a decisive weapon in the upcoming war."
"I am sure it will." Hajime grinned wickedly.
Seeing the smile, Rihito thought he was probably thinking about how those lackeys of that bastard would react to their project in action.
…
Chapter end
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==Insert IMG of your Favourite Marvel character==
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Author's note:
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