Knock, knock, knock.
Reze tapped gently on the door.
"Alright, Kobeni, they've already left. You don't need to hide anymore."
Creak.
The door opened a crack.
Higashiyama Kobeni cautiously peeked out, making sure Quanxi and her four Fiend companions were truly gone.
"Phew..." She wiped the sweat from her forehead and let out a long breath. "Ms. Reze, thank you so much for keeping watch for me..."
Reze lounged in her chair, legs crossed, chin resting on her hand. She studied Kobeni's nervous expression with mild curiosity.
"Kobeni, you've been working here for almost ten days now. You're always avoiding Quanxi and the others. It can't just be because they're Fiends, right?"
"Um..." Kobeni hesitated, then nodded.
"Well... it's kind of like this..."
Since she expected to keep working at the shop for a while, Kobeni explained everything that had happened back at Family Burger.
"Pfft."
"Hahaha." Reze burst out laughing, nearly out of breath. "So you got targeted by a lesbian, and now you're scared she won't leave you alone?"
Kobeni sighed, her shoulders slumping. "Ms. Reze, this isn't funny..."
"Heh." Reze grinned, clearly entertained. "I can help you, Kobeni."
"Huh?"
Reze spread her hands casually.
"It's simple. You don't have a boyfriend, right? Next time Quanxi hits on you, just tell her Cael is your boyfriend."
"If you say that, she definitely won't bother you anymore."
"Eh?!" Kobeni's face instantly flushed red.
"H-how could I say something like that..."
Reze's eyes narrowed slightly, picking up on her reaction.
"You're blushing, Kobeni. Don't tell me you actually..."
She leaned in close and whispered near Kobeni's ear,
"Have feelings for Cael?"
Kobeni's face turned completely red, all the way to her ears. She waved her hands frantically.
"No, no, no! That's not it!"
"That's ridiculous!"
"Besides... doesn't Cael already have Ms. Asa?"
"They even have a child..."
"Hm?" Reze frowned slightly. "Kobeni, you really don't understand anything."
Kobeni blinked, confused. "Understand what?"
Reze casually wrapped an arm around her shoulders.
"Who said Cael only has one wife?"
"Makima and I are his wives too."
"And..."
As she spoke, Reze lightly ran a hand over her stomach, her tone calm and matter-of-fact.
"I'm not pregnant right now because I don't feel like becoming a mom yet."
"But if I want to... I can have Cael get me pregnant anytime."
"Ah???"
Kobeni's eyes widened in pure shock.
Was she really hearing this right now?
Her thoughts, still grounded in normal logic, completely froze.
"T-this... Cael... isn't this cheating?"
Reze shook her head seriously.
"It's not cheating. We're all going to get married together. It's love."
She smiled brightly at Kobeni.
"So you don't need to worry about things like that."
"Honestly, I think you'd fit in pretty well."
"If youblove him, you can join in."
Kobeni's expression stiffened.
This was obviously a harem.
Her worldview started cracking apart.
Cael looked so serious on the outside... but behind the scenes, Asa, Reze, Makima... he was messing around with all of them?
Well...
That did sound kind of comfortable.
Kobeni's brain struggled to process it.
She coughed twice, trying to regain composure, then quickly changed the subject.
"Ms. Reze, Quanxi and those Fiends, they're from China, right? Why would they come all this way just to help at Cael's shop?"
"Who knows." Reze shrugged. "Probably some messy political nonsense."
…
Night.
Kanagawa Prefecture.
A modest private home.
A middle-aged man with a beer belly slumped on a tatami mat, staring blankly at a variety show on TV.
A plate of nearly finished peanuts sat on the table. Crushed beer cans littered the floor.
"Burp."
Higashiyama Naoto's face was flushed as he let out a drunken belch and glanced toward the kitchen.
"Oi. Haruko, is dinner ready yet?"
Bang.
The kitchen door swung open.
Fujimoto Haruko stepped out with an annoyed expression, carrying two cups of instant noodles. She set them down heavily.
"Dinner's ready."
Seeing the familiar instant udon, Naoto grimaced.
"Again? This stuff isn't even healthy. I want real food."
"Hmph." Haruko snorted and changed the TV channel. "Then cook it yourself."
"You're always lying around while I do everything."
Naoto frowned, but held his temper. Arguing with her would only drag things out.
He cracked open another beer and took a long gulp.
"I've been working all day. I'm tired..."
"I have a job too," Haruko shot back, peeling open her noodles and stirring them. "Why should I handle everything at home?"
They both fell silent after that, exchanging tired looks.
Though neither said it out loud, they were thinking the same thing.
If only Kobeni were here.
She could handle everything. And take the stress off them.
After several drinks—
Bang!
Naoto slammed his hand on the table.
"Damn it!"
"That stupid Cabinet!"
"Twelve hours! Twelve damn hours!"
"Are they trying to work people to death?!"
Haruko surprisingly agreed this time.
"Yeah, those people at the top have completely lost it. Every generation gets worse."
They weren't civil servants themselves.
But their eldest son, Higashiyama Kotaro, was.
He had just graduated and managed to pass the civil service exam.
At first, they thought their lives were finally improving.
They were wrong.
Soon after he started, a government reform turned the job into a nightmare.
Too exhausting to keep. Too stable to quit.
He was stuck.
And that wasn't their only problem.
Kotaro was nearly twenty-four.
Old enough to marry.
Recently, he had gotten close to a colleague.
According to him, she was the daughter of the powerful Saionji family.
If that marriage went through, their future would be set.
But—
Her family demanded twenty million yen as a dowry.
And they made it clear.
If the money wasn't ready within a month, the marriage was off.
Haruko wiped the corners of her eyes.
"Even if we gather all our savings, we only have 1.7 million yen... how are we supposed to come up with twenty million..."
Naoto rubbed his forehead, then pulled out his phone.
"I'll call Kobeni."
"She needs to find a way to contribute."
"Okay."