The lingering sound of shared laughter gently subsided in the hospital room, leaving a warm, slightly surreal atmosphere.
Uryuu, however, felt like his brain was still trying to reboot from Shiori's last statement.
The word "mother-in-law" echoed, bouncing off the walls of his mind with utter absurdity.
He blinked, trying to reconcile the beautiful, mischievous woman before him, Amagami Chiharu, with that baffling title.
He looked from Chiharu's amused face back to his mother, who was beaming as if she'd just made the cleverest remark in the world.
He swallowed, needing clarification, needing the ground to feel solid beneath his feet again after the rollercoaster of his mother's recovery and this sudden, bizarre turn.
"Uh.
.
.
Mother," he began, his voice hesitant, pitched slightly higher than usual, "that… that was a joke, right?
About the… mother-in-law thing?"
He needed her to say yes, to wave it off as a flight of fancy born from relief and reunion.
Shiori, however, simply tilted her head, her expression turning surprisingly earnest, though the playful sparkle didn't entirely vanish from her eyes.
"Uh, Uryuu, sweetie, it's… well, not exactly a joke."
She patted his arm reassuringly, misinterpreting his confusion as potential shyness or worry.
"It's something I decided would be good for you!
Think about it – Chiharu-chan has lovely daughters.
With this arrangement, you won't have to worry about finding a nice girlfriend or getting married in the future.
It's all settled!
See?
Mom's looking out for you."
She beamed again, clearly proud of this perceived solution to a problem Uryuu hadn't even begun to contemplate.
Uryuu stared at his mother, a wave of profound weariness washing over him.
It wasn't the exhaustion from using his power anymore; it was the sheer mental fatigue of dealing with his mother's sometimes bewildering logic, now apparently amplified by her miraculous recovery.
He could feel a headache beginning to form behind his eyes.
'Seriously, Mother?'
His internal voice was flat, laced with a level of exasperation only a child dealing with an overly enthusiastic parent could muster.
'I just risked my existence to save you, and your first thought is to arrange my marriage to someone I haven't even met?
I'm only Eight!'
He sighed internally, a gust of pure, unadulterated tiredness.
Before he could formulate a verbal response that wasn't just a groan, the so-called future mother-in-law, Chiharu, chimed in, her voice smooth and melodic, a hint of laughter still present.
She leaned forward slightly, addressing Uryuu directly, her dark eyes holding a thoughtful, appraising look.
"Ara, ara.
If the idea of engagement doesn't appeal to you just yet, Uryuu-san,"
she offered, as if discussing options for dinner,
"How about you simply become my son instead?"
Uryuu's eyes widened.
Become her son?
Adopted?
That was… marginally less strange than being engaged at Eight, but still fundamentally shifted the axis of his world.
"Chiharu!"
Shiori instantly bristled, dropping her cheerful demeanor like a discarded cloak.
She turned to her friend, planting her hands on her hips, her expression fierce, a mother lioness protecting her cub.
"I believe we agreed!
I won't hand over my Uryuu!
He is my son."
She punctuated the statement with an adorable but determined pout, her cheeks puffing out slightly.
"Uh… what's this about… adoption?"
Uryuu managed to utter, feeling like a ping-pong ball caught between two very different, very determined forces.
He looked back and forth between his indignant mother and the calmly smiling Chiharu.
Chiharu straightened up, her expression becoming slightly more serious, though still gentle.
She addressed Uryuu with patient clarity, as if explaining rules to a game.
"Uh, it's like this, Uryuu-san," she began, her tone soothing.
"When your mother reached out to me, explaining her situation and her miraculous recovery, and needing a place for you both…" She paused, gathering her thoughts.
"My father, who is the current Guji, the head priest of our shrine, heard her story.
He was deeply moved and offered two possible solutions for integrating you both into the Amagami Shrine's family."
She raised a slender finger, perfectly manicured.
"First," she stated clearly, "Shiori-san would begin training and eventually work as a Miko, a shrine maiden, contributing to the shrine's upkeep and rituals.
In return for room, board, and support, you, Uryuu-san,"
her gaze met his directly
"would become formally engaged to one of my daughters."
She added, a touch of pragmatism entering her voice,
"This would ensure the shrine has a designated future head priest, as my father is getting older, and traditions must be maintained.
It secures a lineage for the shrine's leadership."
Uryuu processed this.
Miko.
Engagement.
Future Head Priest.
It sounded like something out of an old story, not his actual life.
Chiharu then raised a second finger.
"The second option," she continued smoothly, "is that Shiori-san still joins us as a Miko.
However, instead of an engagement, you, Uryuu-san, would be formally adopted into the Amagami family, effectively becoming part of the shrine itself.
And since I am the primary caretaker for the next generation…" she smiled warmly, "in essence, you would be adopted by me."
As soon as the words left Chiharu's lips, Shiori interjected, her pout deepening, her arms crossing defensively over her chest.
"Absolutely not!
Of course, I refused that!
I can't have my Uryuu becoming anyone else's son!
He belongs only to me, me, me!"
She emphasized the last word with possessive finality, her love for Uryuu bordering on fiercely territorial.
Chiharu sighed, a soft sound, like wind chimes in a gentle breeze.
She turned to Shiori, her expression a mixture of amusement and mild exasperation.
"Honestly, Shiori-chan, why are you always so stubborn about this?
It's not like he'd stop being your biological son, or that you wouldn't still raise him.
It's a formality, a way to integrate him fully into the shrine's structure without… premature commitments."
She shook her head slightly, then her eyes lit up with another thought.
"Ah," she mused, tapping a finger against her chin, "now that I think about it, there was a third option my father half-jokingly suggested."
Uryuu, caught in the middle of this whirlwind of life-altering proposals, felt a sliver of hope.
Maybe the third option was… normal?
"And what's that?"
he asked, his voice betraying a hint of cautious optimism.
Chiharu turned back to him, her smile widening into a grin that was pure mischief.
"Of course," she announced brightly, "it was to adopt Shiori-san herself!
Make her my official younger sister!"
She gestured between herself and Shiori.
"Then you'd automatically be my nephew, see?
Neat and tidy."
She let out a small sigh of mock disappointment.
"Though… it's something she already flat-out refused when I mentioned it earlier."
Chiharu lamented dramatically, placing a hand over her heart.
"Said something about dignity..."
"Chiharu!"
Shiori protested, her cheeks flushing slightly.
"You don't seriously expect a grown woman, a mother, to suddenly be adopted into a new family like a child, do you?
It's undignified!"
"Oh, but think of the fun we could have, Shiori-neechan!"
Chiharu teased, drawing out the honorific.
"Stop that!"
Shiori swatted playfully at Chiharu's arm.
They bickered back and forth for a few moments, the argument clearly underpinned by years of familiar friendship, their voices overlapping, filled more with affection than any real anger.
It was a comfortable dynamic, one that spoke of shared history and deep fondness.
Uryuu watched them, a small sigh escaping his lips.
This was apparently his life now.
Miraculous healings, ancient shrines, adoption proposals, and arranged engagements, all before lunch.
He leaned back against the hospital bed frame, feeling the strange absurdity of it all wash over him.
He glanced at his mother, now laughing at something Chiharu had said, her face radiant with health and happiness.
He looked at Chiharu, serene and smiling, yet discussing his future with the casual air of arranging flower bouquets.
'Ah, I guess it's alright,' he thought, a sense of weary resignation settling in.
He decided to focus on the supposed silver lining his mother had presented, albeit sarcastically in his mind.
'At least… at least I won't have to worry about getting a girlfriend anytime soon.
That's… something, right?
Ahaha.'
The laughter in his head was dry, devoid of humour, a coping mechanism against the sheer ridiculousness.
Option one it was, apparently.
Engaged at eight to a girl he'd never met.
What a life.
After a few more minutes of lighthearted teasing and practical discussion about the move-in timeline, Chiharu decided it was time to leave them to finish packing.
"So then," she said, gathering her bag, her smile warm and genuine now, "I'll leave you two to prepare your things.
I'll arrange for someone from the shrine to come by with a car later this afternoon to help you move everything to your new home."
She bowed slightly to Shiori, then gave Uryuu a gentle nod.
"I look forward to welcoming you both properly to Amagami Shrine."
With a final wave, Chiharu turned and exited the room, closing the door softly behind her.
A comfortable silence fell for a moment, filled only by the distant hospital hum.
Shiori turned to Uryuu, her eyes shining with excitement.
"Then, Uryuu," she asked, clapping her hands together softly, "are you excited?
For our new home?
A real home, together again!"
Uryuu summoned a smile.
It felt a little stiff, a little awkward around the edges, but he tried to match her enthusiasm.
"Yes, Mother," he replied, adding a silent, internal echo, " 'Very excited' ".
He wasn't sure what he felt, aside from bewildered and resigned.
He turned back to helping her pack, picking up a small music box from the bedside table.
As he carefully wrapped it in a soft cloth, a stray thought, previously ignored in the chaos of the conversation, suddenly surfaced with jarring clarity.
He paused, his hands stilling.
Chiharu's arrival… he hadn't heard her approach.
Not a single footstep on the polished hospital floor.
Not the whisper of clothing.
Nothing until her voice had cut through the air.
Uryuu frowned, concentrating.
Even in this weakened, baseline human form of his eleventh life, stripped of the overt powers of his past incarnations like the Demon Lord, his senses were inherently sharper than a normal person's.
A legacy, perhaps, of countless lives spent observing, surviving, ruling.
He always heard people approaching, noticed subtle shifts in the air, the minute sounds that most ignored.
It was instinct, deeply ingrained.
And yet… Chiharu had materialized in the doorway like a phantom.
He replayed the moment in his mind.
No sound.
No warning.
Just sudden presence.
It was weird.
Deeply weird.
An electric thrill shot through Uryuu, cutting through his resignation and weariness.
A possibility bloomed in his mind, exciting and terrifying in equal measure.
She wasn't normal.
'She's… supernatural.'
The thought hit him like a physical force, rearranging his entire perception of the situation, of this world.
All this time, since waking up in this life, he'd lamented the apparent normalcy of this Earth.
No magic, no monsters, no grand cosmic forces he remembered from other cycles.
He had assumed his path to regaining power, to building his Paradise, would involve some interdimensional travel, some grand quest to find a world brimming with the energies he needed.
He'd even started passively researching theoretical physics, looking for loopholes.
But maybe… maybe he didn't need to look so far.
Maybe this world, this seemingly mundane Japan, had its own hidden depths, its own power lurking beneath the surface, concentrated in places like ancient shrines… and embodied in people like Amagami Chiharu.
Suddenly, living at the shrine wasn't just a strange obligation; it was an opportunity.
A chance to learn, to investigate, perhaps even to find a path back to the strength he desperately needed to achieve his goals, to protect what mattered.
His earlier exhaustion vanished, replaced by a burning curiosity and a rekindled spark of determination.
He abruptly dropped the half-wrapped music box back onto the bed and bolted towards the door.
"Uryuu!!"
Shiori cried out, startled by his sudden movement, her hand flying to her chest.
"Where are you going in such a hurry?"
Uryuu paused at the door, turning back briefly, his eyes shining with an intensity that hadn't been there moments before.
"Uh, Mother!"
he called back, his mind racing.
"I just remembered!
I think… I need to ask Chiharu-san something important!
Really important!
I'll be right back!"
And before Shiori could protest further, he darted out of the room and sprinted down the hospital corridor, his small legs pumping, driven by a sudden, electrifying purpose.
Outside the main hospital entrance, the afternoon sun cast long shadows.
Amagami Chiharu had just unlocked a simple, sturdy-looking bicycle parked in the rack near the entrance.
It seemed an incongruously mundane mode of transport for the serene and slightly mysterious woman who had just orchestrated the futures of a mother and son.
She prepared to mount the bicycle and pedal back towards the shrine.
But just as she was about to swing her leg over, a shout cut through the ambient noise of the hospital grounds.
"Chiharu-san!!"
She paused, turning towards the sound.
Uryuu Kamihate was racing towards her, skidding to a halt a few feet away, slightly out of breath, his chest heaving.
His blonde hair was slightly messy from the run, and his bright blue eyes were fixed on her with an unnerving intensity.
Chiharu tilted her head, a gentle, knowing smile touching her lips.
"Ara?
Uryuu-san," she greeted him calmly, her voice retaining its usual melodic quality despite his abrupt appearance.
"Did you forget something?
Or perhaps," her eyes twinkled with mischief, "have you already decided you'd rather become my son after all?"
Uryuu ignored the teasing question, his focus laser-sharp.
He took another step closer, his gaze unwavering, searching her face.
He didn't waste time with pleasantries or roundabout inquiries.
The reincarnator within him, the part that had dealt with powers and mysteries far beyond human ken, pushed the hesitant child aside.
He needed to know.
"Chiharu-san," he asked, his voice clear and carrying despite his recent exertion, the question hanging heavy in the air between them.
"You're not human… are you?"