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Under the cold moonlight, Mai Sakurajima stood in front of her high-rise apartment, ready to part ways with Rosen.
"Thanks for walking me home."Then she brought up what she'd seen at Miko's place earlier.
"Are you sure Miko's going to be okay? Her father's… well, dead. And now he's like an earthbound ghost."
"If she says she can handle it, she can," Rosen said with a shrug."If there's real danger, I'll sense it right away. But I think she wants to deal with it herself.
After all, ghost or not, he's still her father."
"Her father, huh… If you're confident about it, I guess I can stop worrying."
Mai nodded. She thought about it—if it were her mother, she wouldn't want Rosen to get involved either.
But speaking of fathers…She realized she didn't have a single memory of her own.
She'd even asked her mother about him several times in the past. Every time, her mother dodged the question with some excuse—until she finally got annoyed enough to just say, "You don't have a father."
Mai had assumed it was just an angry figure of speech. Maybe her father had abandoned them before she was even born. Maybe that's why her mother was so strict with her.
"I've never heard anything about your father," Rosen remarked, as if reading her mind.
She shrugged. "No idea. Maybe he's off somewhere with a new family by now."
To her, he was just a stranger.
But to Rosen, her words set off a flurry of thoughts.
In the original story, Puberty Syndrome was said to be contagious.
Maybe Mai Sakurajima never even had a "father" in the physical sense—maybe her mother just decided to have her on her own.
Like something out of Journey to the West, where a man could drink from the River of Pregnancy and end up expecting a child… honestly, in this world, it wouldn't be too far-fetched.
Might be worth keeping an eye on in the future.
"See you."
Mai waved goodbye to Rosen before stepping through the front door.
It wasn't that she didn't want to invite him inside because she was wary of him—it was because her mother was home.
If her mom saw that a boy had brought her back, there was no telling what she'd do. Back when Mai was still an idol, her mother had been extremely strict about her interacting with male fans.
What Mai didn't know was…
Rosen had already glanced toward the corner of the apartment building—and locked eyes with a woman watching him from the shadows.
"That boy…"
The mature woman, with long, glossy black hair just like Mai's, frowned slightly.
The boy who had walked Mai home gave her a very particular feeling.
Still, more than anything, she cared about what sort of relationship her daughter had with him.
Even though she'd been retired for years, she still hoped Mai would return to show business. And for an entertainer, whether or not she had a boyfriend could make or break a career.
The door opened.
Mai stepped inside.
When she saw her mother emerging from the bedroom, she knew immediately that the earlier scene had been witnessed.
"What's your relationship with him?"
The tone was calm, but it carried the weight of an order.
"That's none of your business, Mom."
Even though she'd been deeply shaken before—when her mother had forgotten her—Mai still felt the same irritation she always did when faced with that domineering attitude.
"I'm going to my room. I'm tired."
She slipped into her bedroom.
Before she closed the door, her mother's gaze flicked to the shopping bag in Mai's hand.
Inside… something that looked suspiciously like black stockings.
Thinking back to the boy who had walked Mai home, her mind jumped immediately to the worst possible conclusion.
Rosen didn't bother taking a taxi home.
For one thing, he was out of cash.
Taxis here were ridiculously expensive, and without online payment options, riding one was a pain.
For another… he wanted to test his flight speed.
As a god personally chosen by the Tree of Life, he couldn't yet test his full destructive power—but speed? That was easy.
Once he had the direction set, Rosen took to the air and poured divine energy into flight, heading toward home.
Boom!
The air split with a sound like distant thunder.
In the span of a single breath, his home came into view.
Mai's place was more than ten kilometers away in a straight line. Normally, even at 120 kilometers per hour, it would take ten minutes to get there.
"..."
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