[TSSIM] Chapter 469: You've Become Moms

At this moment, Nanami kept her head down like an ostrich at the dining table, silently eating her red bean rice.

It couldn't be helped.

Nayuta and Mashiro's gazes were a bit too intense for her.

"Nanami, why don't you take a day off today?" 

Looking at Nanami, Homura asked in a slightly worried voice.

"It's fine, Homura-kun... I'm feeling really energetic..." Nanami mumbled softly.

"Alright, that's good then..." Homura nodded, paused for a moment, and then grinned. "However, you can't keep avoiding their gazes forever, can you?"

Nanami hesitated, then slowly lifted her head, her face still flushed.

Eventually, Nanami managed to keep it together under Nayuta and Mashiro's gazes, but funnily enough, once she held out, Nayuta actually stopped looking at her.

Needless to say, Nayuta definitely did it on purpose.

Seeing this slightly awkward atmosphere, Homura decided to liven things up by changing the subject.

"Speaking of which... this Saturday is the premiere of Fate/stay night. I don't think we've talked about it yet, have we?"

Upon hearing this, the girls were all suddenly interested in the topic.

"Yeah, we've been so busy lately, I totally forgot about it..." Eriri said with a bit of a sigh.

"By the way, it's not just Fate/stay night, there's also Homura-kun's Monthly Girls' Nozaki-kun, right?" Megumi added.

"Monthly Girls... you mean Homura's eldest daughter~?" Elf teased with a grin.

Homura: "..."

Elf's comment made the others remember the conversation from that day, and they couldn't help but start snickering.

"Right, when is your eldest daughter making her debut, Homura-kun? You never told us." Utaha added in a playful tone.

Hearing this, Homura's right eye twitched a little.

'Alright, if you all want to tease, then I'll join in!'

Snickering inwardly, Homura calmly took a sip of soy milk and then spoke up.

"Well... I guess it's my fault for not telling you, since you all are her moms too, right?"

""Pfff—!""

As soon as they heard Homura's words, everyone who was in the middle of drinking soy milk spat it out.

Cough! Cough! Cough!

Meanwhile, the ones who were in the middle of eating coughed violently.

On the other hand, Nanami, Eriri, and Izumi were all bright red in the face.

"...Moms?" Elf muttered, her mouth twitching.

"What's wrong?" Homura gave a slight smile. "Isn't my eldest daughter also your daughter?"

Elf: "..."

She really wanted to argue, but she didn't know how.

"Hahh..." Utaha sighed helplessly. "Suddenly becoming a mom, it's a bit complicated..."

'Her sigh...' Homura's right eye twitched again. "Lucky for you, Utaha, that you didn't have your hand on your stomach when you said that..."

'Hand on my stomach?'

Utaha raised her eyebrows, imagined the scene for a second, and instantly understood what Homura meant, though she didn't really care.

Seeing Utaha's calm and nonchalant expression, Homura rolled his eyes.

"Alright, now that we're all moms, when is it?" Eriri asked with a flat expression.

"Saturday." Homura answered.

"Eh? The same day as Fate? That can't be a coincidence, right?" Nanami, now a bit calmer, couldn't help but ask.

"Of course not." Homura nodded, confirming she wasn't wrong. "Since the animation company is all part of the same group, and also because of me, it's all on purpose."

"How do you plan to announce it?" Megumi asked curiously.

"Well..." Homura thought for a moment, then replied, "After school, maybe... I'll see how to say it for the best effect."

"Oh, I'm looking forward to it." Elf remarked with a big grin.

She had to admit that she always had fun seeing Homura's publicity stunts.

"No worries, leave it to me!" Homura grinned.

===

After school, Honoka and the others showed up at the Minamiya residence as always. 

Although there wasn't much going on over the past couple of days, that didn't stop them from coming to hang out.

Moreover, while the voice acting work was mostly wrapped up, there was still a review session left, which was something Homura specifically requested, just to avoid any issues popping up when everyone was too busy to fix them last minute.

According to schedule, this review period would last until the end of the week, though it wasn't just about checking the voices, as everything was getting double-checked, from data transfers to scans of the artworks—Homura didn't want to miss anything during the process.

From Homura's perspective, this was a necessary step.

He understood that fans, especially the hardcore ones, had sharp, eagle eyes. Even if one frame was missing from the anime, they would definitely notice right away.

For top-tier works, that kind of flaw shouldn't exist.

Meanwhile, in the living room of the Minamiya residence, Homura and the girls were chatting with each other as always.

"Oh? Nanami-chan? Don't tell me, you already…"

Nozomi, eyeing Nanami, spoke with a sly grin.

It wasn't just Nozomi—the others were looking at Nanami as well, especially Kotori, who was practically wearing an envious expression on her face.

Nanami's face turned red from the sudden attention.

"It's a little scary, nyaa…" Rin remarked, shivering slightly.

"Scary? Me?" Homura asked, pointing to himself.

"I mean, four girls can't even win? Isn't that scary?" Rin said with a blush.

Homura: "…"

"See, Rin-chan! As I said, we'll need all nine of us if we're ever gonna beat Homura-kun!" Nozomi quickly jumped back to this usual topic.

Upon hearing this, the other eight members of Muse were embarrassed and at a loss for words.

Nozomi was truly hopeless in their eyes.

"Yeah, that's right!" Elf nodded seriously. "If anyone's gonna beat Homura, it's all up to you nine!"

Nozomi, looking just as serious, grabbed Elf's hand.

"We won't let you down!"

Everyone: "…"

"Here we go again..." Eli rolled her eyes.

"By the way..."

Eriri suddenly spoke up, looking at the nine members of Muse with a mischievous grin.

"Did you guys know?"

"Know? Know what?" Hanayo asked with a curious expression.

"You've become moms."

Muse: "…"

Yukiho: "…"

Alisa: "…"

""EHHH—?!!!""

"Fueee?! We-We became moms?!" Hanayo's mouth trembled. "H-How did we not know about this?!"

"R-Right?!" Nico stuttered, her face looking panicked. "I've never heard of this! What's this 'become moms' all about?!"

Seeing their reactions, Homura rolled his eyes.

"Without even knowing... I suddenly... became a mom..." Umi's eyes started spinning.

""Pfff!""

Seeing Umi's reaction, Eriri and Elf couldn't help but laugh, but after a while, they stopped and quickly explained.

It would be too much if Umi fainted from the joke.

"Oh, so that's what it was..." Yukiho let out a sigh of relief, patting her chest.

"Eriri-chan, that was too much!" Honoka scolded while puffing out her cheeks.

"Heh~" Eriri chuckled lightly.

"I knew there was something fishy about this." Maki twirled a strand of hair, speaking with a hint of annoyance.

"Ehh~ Really~?" Nozomi smiled teasingly at Maki. "Seems like you were the most surprised, Maki-chan... You were the loudest one too..."

"Nozomi!" Maki exclaimed angrily.

"Well, being a mom like this isn't a big deal..." Kotori said with a helpless shrug. "Eriri didn't explain everything, so how would anyone guess?"

"Fufufu..." Utaha suddenly chuckled. "It seems like no one disagrees with being a mom."

"Nyaa? Why would no one disagree?" Rin asked, confused.

"Why else? It's obviously because Homura-kun is the dad." Utaha replied with a smile, then stayed silent.

"Homura-kun is the dad, and we're the moms..."

Rin muttered in a daze, then got lost in thought.

'Wait, doesn't this mean those who don't voice their objections to being moms actually like Homura-kun?!'

Rin felt like she had discovered the world's most precious secret.

'But... since everyone already likes Homura-kun, that's not surprising, right?'