— — — — — —
Bang!
The door slammed open.
Ryo, sitting in the leader's seat with the Host Authority in hand, froze for a moment and turned toward the noise.
A rush of wind hit him, and suddenly a pair of hands clamped down hard on his shoulders.
"Ryo… Yagami… you're… back?"
Black Rabbit's face twisted like she wanted to curse him out but was forcing herself to smile instead.
"…Yeah, I'm back. And?"
Ryo looked at her in confusion. He didn't remember offending her recently.
Black Rabbit swallowed hard—like she was choking down blood—and anxiously glanced around the room.
"Since you're back, then… where's the child?"
Child?
A giant question mark popped up over Ryo's tiny metaphorical brain.
"What do you mean by child?" he asked, baffled.
"'Child' means 'child.'"
Black Rabbit snapped. Her emotions finally broke through as she grabbed Ryo by the collar and shook him violently. "Where are you hiding the baby?!"
"Calm down. Explain slowly." Ryo frowned, placing a steadying hand on her shoulder.
Black Rabbit sucked in a breath… then another… until her expression finally steadied a little.
Her red eyes fixed on him, dark and serious. "Ryo… did you do something behind my back?"
He paused, then answered flatly: "If you're talking about a secret love child, I can tell you right now: absolutely not."
Black Rabbit's eyes were red, and she sniffled softly.
"Ryo, I'm calm. I'm not blaming you. Even if you had a baby with another woman, I'd help raise them. We could even say they were ours. So… you don't have to hide it from me."
Something about that sounded incredibly wrong.
Ryo shot her a weird look, then turned toward the meeting room doors.
Standing there in her black-and-white maid outfit, looking cute as always, Leticia watched them like a benevolent elder.
Ryo finally asked. "Leticia, what exactly happened while I was gone?"
"Are you sure you want me to explain?" Leticia tilted her head, smiling.
"Explain."
Leticia nodded, then silently reached into her apron pocket and pulled out a small seagull.
A newsbird—one of the spatial magic beasts reportedly used only by Queen Halloween's faction.
Its ability was long-range spatial hopping within city districts of various outer gates.
But its biggest job was, of course, delivering news.
And the newsbirds belonged to Little Garden's publishing community, the "Spring Editorial Bureau"… rumored to be yet another asset of Queen Halloween.
Ryo had seen newsbirds before, but a single news issue cost a Halloween gold coin—a full ten thousand—so he'd never bought one.
"What's wrong with the newsbird?"
A faint sense of dread rose in his chest.
The newsbird suddenly straightened its neck and shrieked:
"Extra! Extra! Shiroyasha is suspected to be secretly pregnant and has given birth to a divine child! The father is believed to be an ordinary outsider male adopted by Canaria! For details, please purchase Issue 1014 of Garden News!'"
Ryo was stunned.
What in the actual hell?
Shiroyasha secretly pregnant?
The father is some "ordinary male" adopted by Canaria?
And Canaria's adopted children were… Black Rabbit… and him.
Wasn't this basically claiming that Shiroyasha had given him a child?!
Who started this rumor?!
Finally, Ryo understood Black Rabbit's meltdown.
This wasn't just slander. This was someone digging a grave for him and burying him alive. Who hated him this much?
His mouth twitched violently.
He stared at Leticia's serene smile, then looked down at Black Rabbit, whose eyes were red but unwavering.
He sighed. "Please don't tell me you actually believed that nonsense."
Leticia gently reminded him: "The Spring Editorial Bureau may publish tabloids, but their stories almost always have proof."
Black Rabbit nodded vigorously. "They're the kind of group that can report which pose a chief god used while sleeping with prostitutes and how many rounds he went!"
Indra, you absolute beast…
Ryo's mouth twitched, but he held firm.
"Nothing happened with me and Shiroyasha. Think about it. Even if someone claimed Shiroyasha and Black Rabbit had a thing going on, that'd still be more believable than Shiroyasha and me."
Leticia and Black Rabbit froze.
…Fair point.
Shiroyasha. Female. Prefers women. Little Garden's legendary yuri veteran. Three thousand years of expertise. Whip master. Wax artisan. God-tier tailor. Pioneer of erotic photobooks. The hidden owner of a sex shop.
Everyone knew this. Even a five-digit who kept up with rumors would've heard about her.
Claiming Shiroyasha fell for a man was way unbelievable.
Leticia even remembered a report from over a century ago: {Zeus changes gender trying to flirt with Shiroyasha, gets exposed instantly.}
If even Zeus had to change sexes to get her attention, her preferences were basically set in stone.
But… her relationship with Ryo was also weird.
Even Leticia had to admit Shiroyasha spoiled him.
It wasn't obvious day to day, but thinking back, it did seem suspicious.
Black Rabbit lifted her head, eyes trembling. "…So there really isn't a baby?"
"Of course not!"
Ryo rolled his eyes. If anyone were to get pregnant by him, Athena would make more sense—and there was also Kanae.
But he and Shiroyasha? Not even in the same galaxy.
Then he suddenly remembered the letter he'd burned for Queen Halloween earlier and became confident.
"Shiroyasha probably annoyed Queen Halloween again, so the Queen decided to mess with her."
"Seriously…?"
Leticia and Black Rabbit both looked thrown off.
Had the relationship between Queen Halloween and Shiroyasha gotten so bad they were spreading rumors about each other?
That was… extreme.
"Just a rumor…" Black Rabbit's expression brightened slightly.
No baby. Pure slander. Which meant…
Ryo was still fresh, untouched stock. Still pure.
Perfect.
"Since that's the case…"
She hadn't even finished speaking when—
Boom!
The ceiling burst open, and Shiroyasha dropped straight down, crashing onto the meeting table.
"Safe landing!"
She dusted her nose, then instantly grabbed Ryo by the collar and roared: "You little brat! Did you blab to that Halloween bitch about our daughter?!"
"You trying to screw me over?!"
Black Rabbit's face froze.
For a moment… she felt like her hair had turned green.
A bright, vibrant green.
.
.
.