Ashley, Rank 100. Irene, Rank 95. Faye, Rank 88. Louise, Rank 70. Rita, Rank 21.
All of them—every last one—were top-tier monsters within the top 100 of IP Rank.
Upon learning that, Satomi Rentaro swallowed instinctively. There was no way he could keep treating the five in front of him like ordinary little girls.
Any one of them could beat him so badly he wouldn't be able to take care of himself afterward.
And now that all five of them were hostile toward him at once, Satomi Rentaro's stress level shot through the roof.
Still, being able to see Aihara Enju and Tina again—confirming they were safe—did loosen the knot in his chest.
Then his thoughts turned to Tendō Kisara.
"Tina, where's Kisara-san? Wasn't she with you?"
Satomi Rentaro's question immediately plunged Aihara Enju and Tina into silence.
"Rentaro-oniichan, Seitenshi-oneechan, let me show you around Paradise."
Just as the atmosphere was about to turn heavy, Nursery Rhyme suddenly ran over, grabbed Satomi Rentaro and Seitenshi by the hand, then said to Aihara Enju, "Sorry, Enju—can I borrow your beloved Rentaro-oniichan for a bit?"
"…Mm." Aihara Enju nodded, her trembling eyes dodging Nursery Rhyme's gaze.
Nursery Rhyme hopped along in front, with Satomi Rentaro and Seitenshi following behind.
They had so, so many questions. Doubts and worries piled up in their hearts like mountains, yet they didn't know how to open their mouths—or rather, they didn't know how to talk to the petite girl in front of them.
They both knew Nursery Rhyme. More than once, Nursery Rhyme had gone to Satomi Rentaro's place to play with Aihara Enju, and Seitenshi had also seen Nursery Rhyme during the "Legacy of Seven Stars" incident.
But after everything that had happened, both of them had realized that Nursery Rhyme was far more mysterious—and far more frightening—than they'd ever imagined… They could no longer face this seemingly delicate girl with the same attitude and mindset as before.
Underfoot stretched a wide expanse of soft grass, its green so vivid it hardly felt real. Above them was a sky as blue as if it had been freshly washed, with clouds drifting past like fluffy cotton candy.
"Let's go see where everyone has class first. At this hour, there should be plenty of eager little students gathered in the classroom. I hope they won't give the new teachers too much of a headache, hee-hee-hee!"
With laughter as bright as silver bells, Nursery Rhyme said that—and then, a door suddenly appeared in front of them.
A door stood quietly on the lawn, so out of place it was almost surreal.
A door appearing out of nowhere on a flat field of grass left Satomi Rentaro and Seitenshi speechless.
Nursery Rhyme didn't hesitate at all. She walked up, pushed it open, and went in first.
Judging by the layout, it was clearly a classroom.
Rows of desks, wooden chairs, and little girls with red eyes.
The moment they saw Nursery Rhyme, the whole classroom erupted—like a crowd of diehard fans seeing their idol at last. Satomi Rentaro and Seitenshi were completely ignored by the kids.
"So many… 'Cursed Children'…?"
Satomi Rentaro's eyes widened slightly. Only now did he understand where all the "Cursed Children" who'd vanished from the Tokyo Area—Enju's friends—had gone.
"Nursery Rhyme! It's class time—what are you doing barging in?! You're disrupting the lesson, you know!"
"Ehe-hee~ Sorry, Village Chief. I just wanted everyone to meet the new friends!"
"Can't that wait until after class?"
Standing on the platform, Slow Goat was clearly unhappy with Nursery Rhyme's sudden intrusion. His wooden cane tapped the floor of the teacher's area again and again.
The instant they saw Slow Goat, both Satomi Rentaro and Seitenshi jumped.
An "old man" covered in wool, with horns on his head…
In an anime, people would shrug it off. But seeing it in reality was completely different—especially in a world with Gastrea.
Normally, anyone with animal traits was tied to Gastrea or the Gastrea Virus. For example, some "Cursed Children" had cat ears or dog tails. So Satomi Rentaro and Seitenshi had seen a few "kemonomimi girls" before.
But this old sheep obviously couldn't be a "Cursed Child." He was far too old.
"Let me introduce you." Nursery Rhyme beamed as she moved to Slow Goat's side. She seemed to love the act of introducing friends to each other. "This is Village Chief Slow Goat. He's the chief of Sheep Village, and he's also my good friend. These kids all wanted to experience what school is like, so I invited the Village Chief and a few others to come teach them."
It was a pity this world didn't have cartoons like Pleasant Goat and Big Big Wolf or SpongeBob SquarePants. If it did, Nursery Rhyme wouldn't have needed to explain at all.
Nursery Rhyme didn't need to introduce Satomi Rentaro and Seitenshi to Slow Goatt either. After being summoned, Slow Goat had proactively asked Nursery Rhyme about this world, and Nursery Rhyme had briefly mentioned Satomi Rentaro—the "child of destiny"—and Seitenshi, ruler of the Tokyo Area.
Then Nursery Rhyme's eyes darted, and she added, "Since everyone's met each other, that means we're friends now. Let's shake hands."
Without letting Seitenshi do it, Satomi Rentaro stepped forward and shook Slow Goat's hand himself… He still couldn't help feeling wary toward a being that was clearly not human.
When the kids learned who Seitenshi was, they were shocked. In many cities, "Cursed Children" were treated like rats on the street—targeted the moment they appeared—so they could only stay in sparsely populated Outer Areas. For them, a head of state like Seitenshi was far too distant.
That gap in status made the children treat Seitenshi with reverence at first. Seeing it, Seitenshi took the initiative to close the distance. Wearing a beautiful, approachable smile, she reached out to them. Even without Nursery Rhyme's help, Seitenshi quickly blended in with the children.
"I'm taking oniichan and oneechan to look around the other classrooms. You keep studying. If you get tired and class feels boring, you can go play—but no sleeping facedown on your desks, okay? That's a bad habit."
When they left, Nursery Rhyme said goodbye to the children in the classroom. She could call every child by name, and she remembered every child's likes and dislikes. Like a little bundle of joy, she always left them happier after talking with them.
The door they'd entered through was the same one Nursery Rhyme pushed open when they left.
But they didn't return to the vivid green lawn.
They stepped into a corridor instead.
"So amazing…" Seitenshi murmured without meaning to, reaching out to touch the wall beside her. Her fingertips met a rough texture, and she found herself doubting her own memories. "It's like magic…"
Satomi Rentaro was equally stunned as he looked around.
"Some kind of spatial transfer technology? Someone actually developed something like this?"
Even after seeing Nursery Rhyme display all sorts of incredible methods, Satomi Rentaro was still trying to explain everything with science, fighting desperately to keep the worldview he'd spent sixteen years building from collapsing.
"Honestly, Rentaro-oniichan, don't say such realistic things all the time." Nursery Rhyme suddenly looked back, sounding a little aggrieved. "You're ruining all the fairy-tale, dreamy atmosphere. At times like this, you should be like Seitenshi-oneechan and call it magic."
"N-no, that's not—there's no way magic exists in this world." Satomi Rentaro frowned slightly and waved a hand, reflexively rejecting it.
Only simple kids believed in magic, magical girls, and Santa Claus—believed humans could fly, believed good people would be rewarded.
"Who says it doesn't? It clearly does." Nursery Rhyme spoke with total certainty. "Children's wishes are, by nature, something as wondrous as magic… I know that best of all, because that's exactly why I was born."
As she spoke, Nursery Rhyme pushed open another door.
She'd said she wanted to show them other classrooms, but to the two of them, this looked more like a kitchen than a classroom.
"Awoo, awoo… This cake's baked a little too long. Gotta control the temperature better, mmm-mmm… And the sugar's too much—so sweet it hurts your teeth, mmm-mmm… But compared to last time, there's real improvement! Praise-worthy! Make another one!"
Just like before, there was another sheep sitting where the teacher's desk would be. It had a poop-shaped hairstyle that was hard to even comment on, and a yellow bib tied around its neck. It was holding a cake and eating with obvious relish.
A line of kids stood in a row, each holding a dish that looked mouthwateringly good.
"Hm? Nursery Rhyme, you're here."
Stuffing food into his mouth, Lazy Goat greeted them, like he was too busy to do anything else.
"You want some too? If you want to eat, you can just tell the kids. They'd probably be happy to cook for you."
"Lazy Goat, didn't I ask you to come teach the kids?"
Nursery Rhyme put her hands on her hips, drew in a deep breath, and puffed her cheeks up round to show how mad she was.
Lazy Goat didn't feel guilty in the slightest. He kept stuffing his face and talking without missing a beat.
"Don't you think your request is kind of messed up? What am I supposed to teach them? I'm always getting zeroes on tests myself."
He said it with complete righteousness, like it wasn't something shameful at all—in fact, like he was proud of it.
"When I thought about it, I realized I don't really have any strengths besides eating and knowing how to eat. So I figured I'd teach them cooking. If you've got that skill, at least you don't have to worry about starving to death, right? I think what I'm doing is way more useful than mindlessly studying."
Lazy Goat was obviously arguing in bad faith, but Nursery Rhyme had to admit he had a point.
In terms of intelligence, Lazy Goat actually wasn't worse than Pleasant Goat. He just couldn't be bothered to use his brain—and only when he was slacking off did his mind work unusually fast.
Seeing that the kids were happily learning cooking from Lazy Goat, Nursery Rhyme didn't argue further. She asked him about the others.
"Strong Goat is teaching the kids PE. Pleasant Goat seems to be teaching math right now. Pretty Goat and Warm Goat don't really have anything scheduled."
When they left, Nursery Rhyme was carrying a whole pile of food in her arms. The kids in Lazy Goat's classroom had made it themselves under his guidance, and they competed to hand it to Nursery Rhyme. Even Lazy Goat looked jealous watching it.
"Let's just go outside. Compared to math class, PE is more fun anyway, right?"
With her arms full, Nursery Rhyme had no free hands to open the door—but that little problem wasn't going to stop her.
Satomi Rentaro and Seitenshi were hesitating, about to step in and open it for her, when they suddenly saw a figure crawl out of Nursery Rhyme's shadow.
Dressed like a ninja in all black, the exposed skin was an unnatural dark blue-green. In its blood-red eyes, you could faintly make out black pupils.
The soldier from the Shadow Army remained kneeling on one knee as it emerged, and the moment it appeared, it respectfully pushed open the classroom door for Nursery Rhyme.
Outside wasn't the corridor they'd come from.
It was the playground, where Strong Goat was leading the children through PE.
Once they were out, Satomi Rentaro turned back and watched that black-clad ninja slip back into Nursery Rhyme's shadow. His mouth hung open for a long time.
"…It really is like magic." Before he even realized it, Satomi Rentaro let out that awed remark.
Even though it was PE class, the kids were mostly just playing on the field. Nursery Rhyme had specifically instructed the teachers not to over-restrict the children's freedom and playful nature.
With their bodies strengthened by the Gastrea Virus, a normal person couldn't be their PE teacher—they couldn't withstand the kids' chaos… So, in front of everyone, Strong Goat casually lifted a ten-thousand-ton hammer, silencing every doubt on the spot.
"Everyone! I brought lots of yummy food—wanna eat together?"
Carrying the delicious dishes the kids from Lazy Goat's class had given her, Nursery Rhyme invited the children on the playground.
"Of course, Rentaro-oniichan and Seitenshi-oneechan can join too." Nursery Rhyme turned and smiled softly at them. "If everyone eats happily, the food will be happy too."
Satomi Rentaro and Seitenshi thought about it and didn't refuse Nursery Rhyme's invitation.
They didn't need to pick a special spot. Everyone just ate right there on the field, like an unusually charming outdoor tea party. Laughter bounced and glittered under the bright sun, as if gilded in warm gold, weaving together with the breeze and green grass into an easy, comfortable afternoon.
Maybe the scent of food and the cheerful atmosphere drew them in, because Tom and Jerry, Briar and Bramble, Super Q and Bobby, Garfield and Odie… more and more little buddies joined the tea party.
A dreamy scene like a fairy-tale kingdom hit Satomi Rentaro's worldview like a sledgehammer.
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T/N: i love the good endings
bonus chaps
100 stones -> 1 chapter
200 stones -> 2 chapters
300 stones -> 3 chapters
and so on
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