Kousuke had moved to a new base, but he wasn’t spending all his time there.
He was still managing the tower as before, and more importantly, Kousuke had a reason to go to the management layer.
“Oh. Haven’t you gotten bigger again?”
“Really? I don’t think I’ve changed that much?”
“No, you’ve definitely gotten bigger!”
What looked like a loving argument from the outside was Kousuke, holding Shuu, and Shurein.
Floria and Silvia were watching them with a look of slight exasperation.
“Somehow, when it’s not you, you can only be exasperated.”
“That’s true… But Floria was like this too, you know?”
“N-no, that’s not true, is it? N-no. I’ll just get more and more wound up if I say any more, so let’s stop. And you were the same way, weren’t you?”
“N-no, I wasn’t… No. Let’s just stop.”
Silvia and Floria, judging that it would become a pointless argument, decided not to delve any deeper, lest they hurt themselves further.
After all, they both admitted that they had gone through similar experiences raising children.
While Silvia and Floria were able to stop there with Kousuke and Shurein’s ongoing exchange, Mia wasn’t so fortunate.
“Ah~. Isn’t there anyone who should stop those two?”
“If it’s Mia who wants to stop them, I don’t think there’s any problem.”
“I don’t want to get kicked by a horse.”
Hearing Floria and Silvia’s replies, Mia realized she had no allies and her face contorted as if she had just eaten a large amount of sugar directly.
“…How long do I have to watch this?”
“That’ll be until they get bored… What’s up? You seem unusually bothered today?”
Kousuke’s doting on his child (and wife) was something they had seen plenty of with Colette and Peach. For Mia to be complaining this much now was unusual.
Silvia seemed to feel the same way as Floria and nodded as she looked at Mia.
“That’s true. Did something happen?”
Silvia casually moved away from Kousuke and Shurein, who were creating their own world as usual.
Floria, understanding Silvia’s intent, moved with her.
Mia, finding herself sandwiched between Silvia and Floria, was forced to move away from Kousuke and Shurein.
Mia, realizing she had been separated from Kousuke and Shurein before she knew it, put on a sullen expression.
“It wasn’t anything major. Just the usual stuff happened.”
To Mia, who was clearly saying something had happened, Floria nodded thoughtfully.
“I see. So, you went to a ball or something, as usual, but ultimately couldn’t find a partner, is that it?”
“Wh-what!? W-wait a minute! How could you possibly think that!?”
Floria looked straight at Mia, who protested in a panic.
“Am I wrong?”
Flinching under Floria’s overly sharp gaze, Mia averted her eyes.
“…I’m not wrong. Yes, that’s right. I’m just a late bloomer who still can’t find a partner.”
Seeing Mia’s face turned away in defiance, Floria thought internally, *’Hmm.’*
While Mia often complained about this sort of topic, this time felt different from usual. It was her maternal instinct, so to speak. In fact, Silvia hadn’t realized it at this stage.
“Hmm. What really happened?”
Floria, who usually brushed things off, was now asking more directly, which surprised Silvia. And it wasn’t just Silvia; the person being asked was equally surprised.
Mia, receiving an unexpected reaction from Floria, looked flustered.
“Huh!? No, it really was just the usual, I couldn’t find a partner?”
Floria, seeing that Mia’s words held no falsehood, nodded thoughtfully.
“Is that so? Then perhaps you’ve been holding on to too many things. …Maybe you should take a little rest.”
“You’ve been very busy lately, after all.”
Silvia agreed with Floria, nodding as she said so.
Mia suddenly broke into a smile and nodded at Floria and Silvia’s words.
“That’s right! Why don’t we go to Little Amamiya for a bit… ”
“Hey, wait there!”
Floria grabbed Mia, who was trying to hurry to the room with the teleport array leading to Little Amamiya, and stopped her.
“W-what are you doing? I want to go to Little Amamiya for some healing…”
“So, what part of that is healing?”
Floria looked at Mia with an exasperated expression, unable to fathom how managing the tower could be considered healing.
Mia, however, proudly replied to Floria.
“For me, that’s healing! …Ouch!?”
Mia protested with an exaggerated pout after Floria lightly smacked her on the head. Silvia, who had been watching their parent-child interaction with a smile, looked at Mia and said,
“Putting aside whether managing the tower is healing or not, at least something other than that would be good, wouldn’t it?”
“Ehh? For me… wait, wait, I was wrong.”
Tempted by another swat from Floria, Mia made a gesture of crossing her arms in front of her face. It was a pose clearly indicating she didn’t want to be hit again.
Seeing Mia show a bit of remorse, Floria lowered her fist.
“Well, if you want healing, what should we do?”
“Given it’s Mia, she’ll probably only think of managing the tower.”
As Floria and Silvia pondered, Mia nodded along. Seeing this, Floria and Silvia both sighed. They understood that continuing to talk would get them nowhere.
After discussing it for a while, the three, unable to decide what to do, consulted Kousuke.
“So that’s why you came to me. But if you suddenly say something like that, I can’t think of anything.”
Even if he were to create games from his old world, it would take time. Kousuke knew that the games he had already made wouldn’t be Mia’s healing. Wondering what to do, Kousuke suddenly looked at Mia’s face and shook his head from side to side.
“You look like you’ve already moved on? Is there really a need to create new healing now?”
At Kousuke’s words, Mia exclaimed in surprise, “Eh!?”, and covered her cheeks with her hands.
Floria stared intently at Mia.
“…Certainly, you seem much better than before.”
“Ehh!? Please think about my healing properly!”
Mia protested, her voice filled with panic, as the atmosphere grew ominous. However, ignoring Mia, Shurein, holding her child, nodded.
“So, Mia just wanted to have a leisurely talk with Kousuke and Floria, is that it?”
When Shurein concluded this, Mia looked sullen.
“That’s not true! Please think about it properly!”
Mia protested, but Floria simply donned a “good grief” expression, seemingly having lost any serious inclination to think about it.
Ultimately, the “healing” for Mia was never seriously considered further, but Kousuke continued to think if there was anything that could truly be healing for Mia.
What should we think of for Mia? lol
I considered teaching her how to make temari balls or embroidery, but nothing felt quite right…
So, I’m opening up a call for suggestions for Mia’s healing!
(Whether it will appear in the main text is still undecided lol)
