Agung pulled his worn notebook back out, his pen hovering over the page. He looked at the three Aqours mothers who were holding their beautifully wrapped *furoshiki* bundles.
"Okay, let me get this straight," Agung muttered, doing the mental math. "Aoi is seven. Hime and Yuki are six. Kureha is four. And Reina, Taiyou, and Sora are three."
He looked up, tapping the pen against his chin. "So Mari, Dia, Yohane... care to tell me our daughters'—and son's—ages? I need to know exactly how much chaos I'm walking into when we leave this ryokan."
Dia Kurosawa was the first to speak. She elegantly adjusted the sleeve of her kimono, her posture perfect, though a soft, motherly warmth softened her sharp features.
"Shinju and Sango are five years old," Dia stated, her voice carrying a quiet pride.
"They were just two when you... vanished. They are incredibly smart, Agung. They already know how to sit properly during tea ceremonies, but..." She paused, looking away for a brief moment. "...they also know how to wait by the door. They still remember a father who used to carry them on his shoulders."
Agung swallowed hard, jotting down a *5* next to the Kurosawa Gems. "Five. Okay. I owe them three years of shoulder rides. I've got broad enough shoulders for that now."
Mari Ohara giggled, though it lacked her usual bombastic volume, replaced by an affectionate, tired sweetness. She leaned against Dia, holding her purple bundle close to her chest.
"My little shooting stars—Stella, Luna, and Marina—just turned **five** as well, Darling!" Mari beamed, holding up five fingers. "Do you have any idea how much energy three five-year-old girls have? It's a shiny nightmare! They were toddlers when you left, and now they are a three-part harmony of pure, unadulterated chaos. They've spent the last three years asking why Papa went to buy chocolate and never came back."
Agung winced, writing another *5* next to the Shiny Chorus. "Five five-year-olds between the two of you. That's a whole boyband of trouble. And Yohane?"
Yoshiko struck a dramatic pose, her free hand covering one eye as she let out a dark chuckle.
"Heh heh heh... The mortal realm could barely contain them!" Yoshiko declared, though her face was completely red. "Yoru and Tsuki descended to this earth four years ago! They were barely one year old when you were swallowed by the abyss! Now, they are full-fledged familiars of the night, running through the house and demanding dark rituals before bedtime!"
She dropped the pose, her voice squeaking just a little. "A-And they ask about you all the time. Yoru thinks you're on a secret mission in the underworld, and Tsuki thinks you're a sleeping dragon."
"Four," Agung wrote down, letting out a long, slow breath. He stared at the completed list in his notebook.
#The Panda Dynasty Age Roster:
* 7 Years Old:** Aoi (1)
* 6 Years Old:** Hime, Yuki (2)
* 5 Years Old:** Shinju, Sango, Stella, Luna, Marina (5)
* 4 Years Old:** Kureha, Yoru, Tsuki (3)
* 3 Years Old:** Taiyou, Sora, Reina (3)
Agung slowly closed the notebook. He looked at the fourteen names, the ages ranging from toddlers who barely remembered him to a seven-year-old who remembered exactly what he had lost.
"One seven-year-old. Two sixes. Five fives. Three fours. Three threes," Agung calculated aloud, his voice flat with comedic shock.
He looked at the women, then at the kids happily eating in the kitchen, and finally at the ceiling of the Takami Ryokan.
"I don't need a bigger phone plan," Agung whispered, his round face going pale. "I don't even need a minivan. I need a literal school bus. I am the principal of a private kindergarten. I'm going to have to manifest a playground just to survive the weekends."
"Are you backing out now, Panda?" Lanzhu teased from the counter, though she was smiling.
"Backing out?" Agung laughed, a deep, rumbling sound that made Yuki look up and smile. He slid the notebook back into his apron. "Not a chance. I'm just trying to calculate how much Swiss chocolate I need to manifest to buy my way back into fourteen little hearts."