NOVPUBTaira was more excited to return home on this day than usual.
But he wasn't really interested in rest or relaxation, even after being on his feet for the last two months.
More than anything, he was looking forward to seeing the people in his life who made his sacrifices feel insignificant.
As soon as he was able to pry himself off of Aveena, he immediately teleported home.
He almost barged right into his home without thinking, but he heard the sound of tender laughter before anything else and followed it like a man possessed.
When Taira first saw his daughter and his wife, he didn't notice anything else.
Yukiko's brilliant smile and outstretched arms lured him towards her instantly.
He swept up his daughter and his wife in his arms and held onto them for dear life.
He tried to be mindful of the fact that his strength was several times above what a child could withstand and limited his hugging as much as possible.
"You're back! You're back now!"
Taira smiled so widely that his cheeks could've torn. "I am. Did you get bigger while I was- mwff?!"
Yukiko grabbed her father by the face and stared at him with red eyes that practically demanded obedience. "Daddy can't leave for that long again! We vetoed on it."
"Voted, honey." Keran corrected.
"Yeah, that." Yukiko nodded.
Taira gave his daughter a wry look. "Oh, you voted, huh..? Was it unanimous?"
Yukiko nodded her head hard. "Yeah! Mommies said you leaving is sus!"
"..." Taira stared at his daughter with a minute amount of concern. "When's the last time you cleaned your ears?"
Yukiko shrank a bit and covered her ears with her hands.
"I thought so."
Keran finally stole an opportunity to lay a smooch on her husband's lips that lasted far too long for Yukiko's comfort.
She even tried to worm her little fingers between their lips in an attempt to separate them. "Umm... hello."
Taira was actually startled when another voice spoke from within the case opening.
He looked up to find Ayame and Aja standing around, watching the lot of them in complete shock.
"...How long have the two of you been there?"
Instead of answering, Aja posed a question of her own. "Where did the child come from?"
"You met Yuki last time you were here."
"Yes, but she... What's a 'godmother'?"
"What you are."
"You're delighting in not answering my questions, aren't you?"
"What gave me away?" Taira cracked a small smile.
Unlike almost every other woman in Tayar, Aja was not swayed in the slightest by the sight of Taira smiling at her.
Mostly, she just felt really annoyed because she knew him to be doing this on purpose.
It made her question just how a person could be so unlikeable, and why she, of all people, had decided to call a person like this her friend.
Perhaps something was just as wrong with her as it was with him.
"...It's good to see you."
"And you as well."
Taira briefly separated from Yukiko and Keran so that he could hug Aja as well.
"So... I have a grandchild."
Ayame finally spoke, and her words were perhaps softer than any that the group had ever heard before.
For a moment, Keran didn't even recognize her mother.
Taira narrowed his eyes at her. Memories of their last conversation came rushing back.
"Why are you here…?"
Ayame set her jaw in place. "I had some business to discuss. You don't exactly heed my attempts to contact you in any other way, so."
"It's almost like I don't want to talk to you."
"Your opinion is duly noted, but there are bigger concerns than our personal relationship at the moment." Ayame's hard tone had returned to her voice.
Her own frustration was quickly building. She couldn't believe Taira was so unbelievably petty that he would keep the existence of her grandchild from her over one minor disagreement.
And why had her daughter not said anything!? Why wasn't she taking up for her!?
"Whose that lady?" Yukiko pointed.
Taira instantly lost his intense aura and pushed his hair out of his face. "...This is your mother's mother."
"Which one?" Yukiko tilted her head.
"Remember what your mother (Vermeil) taught you about context clues?"
Yukiko thought long and hard about the lessons she got from her mother, along with the other kids in the sect.
She conjured up a mental image of her assortment of mothers and tried to think of the one who looked the most like the one-eyed lady.
Finally, a lightbulb went off in her brain, and she turned around to point at Keran.
"Fluffy mommy..!"
Keran beamed with pride.
Yukiko climbed down from her mother's grasp and waddled over to Ayame.
"My mommies say that grandmothers make sweets. Do you make sweets?"
Ayame seemed immensely caught off guard.
"Well… you can't be an indomitable warrior if you're eating sugar."
"That's not true! My tall mommy has lots of muscles and she's super strong! And my daddy says she eats like shit!"
Taira felt a heated gaze bore into his back. He immediately turned his head to the side and tried to ignore it.
Children listened to adult conversations a lot more closely than he thought. Who knew?
"Can I call you Granny No-Eye?"
"Alright, that's enough." Keran hurriedly snatched up her daughter before she could say something else out of pocket.
"Let's go tell the rest of the girls that daddy's back, hm? And then we can talk a bit about which words are okay to repeat…"
Keran took her daughter and vanished from the mouth of the cavern, while Taira remained behind with Ayame and Aja.
A tension returned between Taira and his mother-in-law. Neither one of them wanted to speak first.
The great thing about being a lich and losing your emotions was that awkwardness had much less of an effect on you. So Aja had no problem breaking up the atmosphere.
"I don't mean to be dramatic, but… I believe that I would die for the child."
Even though he tried to fight it, Taira still couldn't resist the urge to release a small snort.
"She is the best thing I've ever done, that's for sure. And the fact that you seem so interested in her is the reason why I chose you to be her godmother."
Aja opened her mouth to speak.
"No, I won't tell you what that is."
Aja closed her mouth again.
"Do you want to do a little bit more good?" Ayame suddenly asked.
Taira locked eyes with her and noticed her heavy, unwavering gaze.
"If the answer is yes, then we need to talk to you about something. The humans are tired of being ignored. An envoy is coming here in ten days."
