They spent the rest of the evening in the recreation room, doing their favorite things. Aya didn't love card games as much, so after one game, she lay on the sofa and started reading her beloved manga. She found text with pictures much easier, which made her a bit self-conscious. But Kenshin immediately assured her there was nothing shameful about it, and it would make transitioning to more serious books easier.
Hitomi, meanwhile, decided to reread the fifth-grade biology book again. Kenshin had put enormous effort into gathering fragmentary memories and piecing them together, but even so, the book was only 70% restored. That was more than enough to shock her and overturn her views on living organisms. Even with such limited info, Hitomi felt herself progressing stronger each day in iryoninjutsu, trying new methods and techniques.
An hour after Hitomi's return, Makoto was completely exhausted, blinking sleepily and dozing off for seconds, so Kenshin called "lights out" half an hour early.
"Kasumi, take Makoto to bed," Kenshin ordered, planning to train psionics a bit before sleep.
"To yours?" she asked with a sly smile.
"Ahem. That's not funny," Kenshin said, deflated, amusing everyone present.
Kasumi didn't pursue the highly amusing topic and gently roused Makoto, escorting her to her room so she wouldn't get lost.
On the morning of day 416, Kenshin woke in the arms of Aya and Kasumi. While their bellies weren't too big yet, they tried to spend every night in his bed, enjoying his caresses.
Not wanting to wake the two beauties, Kenshin quietly slipped out of bed and headed to the gym, where after a half-hour warm-up, he sparred with his strongest sons for about an hour. Though Ichiro was still the strongest thanks to his amazing ability, Fifteenth was hot on his heels, training literally from dawn to dusk, made possible only by the healing baths of blue sage decoction.
Ichiro and Fifteenth were a step from jonin rank and planned to break through within the next month. Kenshin fully approved and helped them however he could, exhausting himself with endless spars and passing on the best experience accumulated by the other sons.
If half a year ago, accumulating and sorting hundreds of hours of each son's experiences had been impossible, over time Kenshin developed unique methods for extracting "experience." The info was still 90% useless, but filtering it became much easier, which is what he did during daily routine tasks.
This practice helped train a sort of "consciousness branching," and Kenshin eagerly awaited finally splitting his mind into two full streams. With psionics acquired, he intuitively KNEW it was possible and couldn't wait.
After sparring with his sons, he was physically drained and, after a contrast shower, headed for breakfast, as it was nine a.m.
"Makoto, it's me," Meyumi said, knocking on her room door again.
"Something wrong?" the skinny brunette mumbled sleepily, rubbing her eyes.
"Breakfast in half an hour, and master told me to fetch you. So get dressed and let's go," Meyumi said, entering her room.
"Alright..." Makoto whispered, stripping naked and picking out a new outfit.
"I've never seen such beautiful dresses. Any of these outfits is way prettier than what those arrogant noble bitches wear," Meyumi noted, eyeing her new "friend's" wardrobe.
"And they're all your size... I'd never have thought master had so much clothes for a skinny thing like you," she muttered, glancing again at Makoto's incredibly thin figure.
"That's because Kenshin created all the clothes, just like the food last night," Makoto said, choosing a thin sundress with flowers and simple black panties.
"I-incredible! I've never heard of such a technique... But the food was delicious..." Meyumi said in awe, eager to get to the dining room and see if breakfast would be as amazing as dinner.
"Kenshin said he'll teach me to create food, and then we can eat anytime!" Makoto said enthusiastically.
"Wh-what?! Makoto, that's wonderful! If I could make such tasty dishes, even life in the House of Flowers wouldn't be so awful," Meyumi said joyfully, stroking the "useful" girl's head. She remembered the master's order to be kinder and was trying to befriend Makoto.
Hearing about the "House of Flowers," Makoto winced unpleasantly but said nothing, silently brushing her short hair, wanting to appear before her "husband" in the best light.
"You seem to like the black-eyed one. Did she tell you who she is to the master?" Meyumi asked casually. One of her main unresolved "problems" was these four strangers. She'd spent much time wondering who they were to Kenshin, hoping Hitomi was his mother and the others sisters.
"Hm? Kasumi? She's his wife, like all the others," Makoto replied calmly, brushing her unruly hair. Having gotten up late and skipped a shower, a tuft refused to lie flat and stuck up.
"W-wife?! All of them?! Lord, that's awful!" Meyumi exclaimed in shock, clutching her head.
"What's awful about it? I became his wife too, and it's just incredible! But don't tell anyone; it might be a secret..." Makoto said, belatedly thinking it might be confidential.
"WHAT?! YOU?! BUT HOW?!" Meyumi shrieked in disbelief. She felt like she was going mad and pinched herself, hoping to wake from this nightmare, but felt only pain.
"Shh, don't yell. It was all thanks to Kasumi; she brought it up, and Kenshin decided to make me his... wife," Makoto whispered dreamily, blushing.
"She's crazy! Who in their right mind finds another wife for their husband?! Now because of her stupidity, becoming his wife will be even harder!" Meyumi exclaimed, clutching her head.
"Don't call her crazy, or we'll fight! They're all my sisters now, and I won't hear nasty things about them!" Makoto declared resolutely.