Yuri ran around the corner, panting and out of breath. "Dammit, Rin...! Stop... getting into trouble... hah..." She stopped next to Rin and doubled over to catch her breath. "Uncle... Kai and... Aunt Sakura... are going to be so mad..."

  Meggie gnced over at Yuri and raised an eyebrow. She knew that Rin was always a bit... different. Especially compared to normal girls around her age... and especially after hanging around Big Sister Alphy. But from the way Yuri was acting... it seems like she might have gotten worse?

  Rin helped Yuri up and hugged her. "Sorry, Yuri. I didn't realize you were so slow."

  "Slow?! You ran off at- No." Yuri waved her hand. "Never mind. There's no point trying to talk commonsense into you..."

  At that time, Emma blinked from behind Meggie and looked at both Rin and Yuri. "Um... Hi again?" She tugged at Meggie's shirt and whispered, "I know we hang out with them a lot, Meggie, but... um. I don't think you ever expined who they are...?"

  Meggie tilted her head at Emma's whisper and wracked her mind. And then she realized that Emma was right. Between all the other details and just being used to hanging around Yuri and Rin, Meggie never did give Emma a proper introduction. "Well, as you know this is Rin and Yuri."

  Rin waved. "That's me, Emma!"

  Yuri nodded. "Yeah. I'm Yuri. This is Rin. She's... a bit crazy sometimes, but she's a good senpai."

  Emma blinked. "Senpai?"

  "Grk." Yuri flinched.

  Rin ughed.

  Meggie rolled her eyes. Then she turned to Emma and said, "Rin is... well, since my big sister is probably going to be married to Rin's big sister... I think she's my sister-in-w? Or something?" Meggie paused. "And I guess Yuri is kind of a cousin then since her uncle is in a situationship with Rin's Mom. Or something? There's a kind of weird tension there even though he's married already..."

  Yuri sighed. "Tell me about it... Uncle Kai needs to clear that up. Oh, but he's not actually reted to me, Meggie."

  "Huh?" Meggie tilted her head. "He's not? Aren't you like, Tsuki's cousin?"

  "I am, but it's like..." Yuri paused, visibly struggling as she tried sorting out her family retionships. "...Complicated." She sighed. "It's complicated."

  Meggie hummed.

  Rin hummed too and said, "You know, that's right. I never talked to Mom about Mister Kai... I should probably do that sometime..."

  Meggie chuckled. "That's going to be... an interesting conversation."

  Emma blinked and then looked between all the girls. Then she looked back at Meggie and said, "Um... you have a really interesting life, don't you, Meggie?"

  Meggie nodded. "I do. And I bme Dad."

  xxx

  John sneezed.

  Betty tucked Rory into a more comfortable position in her arms. After that, she looked at John and said, "You should get a proper check up one day, Father. You seem to be sneezing quite a bit often these days."

  John rubbed his nose. "It's fine. It's just one of your sisters talking about me again. Probably Meggie considering you texted her."

  Betty chuckled. "Meggie has been a bit rebellious recently... I would not put it past her."

  John nodded. "I just hope she doesn't start dating around as an act of rebellion or something... I mean, I don't judge. But Yue might actually try killing me..."

  Betty giggled and said, "That would be amusing. But you know Meggie would not do that, Father." She smiled and said, "Despite her appearance, she takes after you more than Mother, you know?"

  "That's what I'm worried about..." John frowned. "Young me was a magnet for trouble, and it's definitely starting to look like Meggie's the same way..."

  Betty smiled and said, "Well, all of us have inherited something from you, Father. Alphy has inherited your ability to be effortlessly charming, I have inherited your propensity to brush off nonsense, and Meggie seems to have your penchant for trouble."

  John hummed in thought. "I guess so..." Then he shifted his gaze to Aurora. "But it makes me worried about our little one here..."

  Aurora turned a bit in Betty's arms to look at John. Then she giggled and said, "Ba!"

  "That's exactly why I'm worried, Rory..." John chuckled and Aurora's nose.

  Aurora giggled and then moved her hands up to cover her nose.

  Betty smiled and tucked Aurora back into her stroller.

  While Betty did that, John took a look around.

  Downtown Tokyo. Specifically, downtown Roppongi.

  It was the usual pce that John wandered around when he had time... which he had exceedingly more of these days.

  Since it was the afternoon on a weekday, there weren't too many people out and about. As usual, there were the sarymen you could find everywhere along with the random university students wandering around between csses. There were also some young mothers walking with their infants and toddlers too.

  Over all, pretty peaceful for once in John's life. And he knew better than to jinx that, so before commenting on it, he looked over to Betty and said, "So what's been going on in your life, Betty? It's been a while since we've chatted."

  Betty gently rolled the stroller with Aurora back to John. After that, she nodded and said, "It has been a while since we talked, hasn't it, Father?" She smiled and said, "There is not much going on in my life though. I am still hard at work with the other members of my team." She paused and said, "The only difficulty is the trend against AI these days..." She sighed. "It is getting a bit difficult. We try our best to illustrate how our tools and AI is ethically sourced and developed in-house, but it is hard to convince one who is already set in pce..."

  John grimaced and started walking, rolling Aurora's stroller with him. "I know what you mean. There are a lot of corporations trying to compete with the MIRAIZ app and scraping artists and the internet to generate material." He sighed. "It's pretty sickening... Reminds me too much of those bastards in the Three Realms siphoning the defenseless for their own purposes."

  Betty nodded. "It does. Those in power seem to fall so readily to extorting the gifted but voiceless for their own purposes..."

  John shook his head. "I can understand why. It *is* hard to compete against us when we have literal centuries of material to feed into the AI... and since we have Titor. Even so." He frowned. "It's not right."

  "It is not." Betty nodded. "But I suppose the dust will settle eventually... Ah, and speaking of Uncle Titor. How is he? And Aunt Amadeus?"

  John smiled. "They're fine." He paused, thinking. "And I think their baby should be born by now too. Haven't heard back from him, but since I haven't I guess he's preoccupied."

  Betty nodded. "I suppose so." She paused and then a faint dreamy expression appeared on her face. "But it must be nice, having a child..."

  John stumbled and had to quickly catch himself.

  Aurora gasped, startled by the sudden movement. "Baba!"

  "Sorry, Rory." John reached inside and patted Aurora's cheek to comfort her.

  Aurora pouted and then tried biting John's hand. Of course, since she didn't have any teeth, she just slobbered all over it.

  John didn't notice it though, still stunned by Betty's words. He looked at Betty with wide eyes, still processing what she said.

  Betty tilted her head. "What is it, Father?"

  "B-Betty." John blinked. "Don't tell me you're thinking about romance. A-And...?"

  Betty sighed and crossed her arms. "How can I not?" She looked down at Aurora and let out a warm smile. "I want a little baby of my own to spoil too... Rory is nice. But I would like to have a little one I can call my own."

  John started sweating, suddenly realizing what it was. Baby fever. Oh heavens above, Betty had baby fever.

  Betty looked at John's expression and then let out a teasing smile. "What? Does that make you feel old, Father?"

  "A little bit, yes." And very much uncomfortable, John left unsaid. Logically, he knew it was about time. After all, Alphy and Betty were both grown women. And they were in a time and pce that was safe enough to settle down and have a family. Even so... the thought of his Betty having a child. Of having grandchildren already...