A bottle of ice-cold Coke, two bottles of orange juice.

"Wow, an icy drink on an autumn morning really brings back that fiery youthful passion."

Arakawa Jiro sighed with emotion, popping open the can of Coke.

Foam bubbled up, and he hurriedly brought it to his lips and took a sip. The icy chill made his whole body shudder, forcing him to realize, deep down, that he really wasn't that young anymore.

Time spares no one.

Arakawa Reina sat on the stool to the right and couldn't help saying, "Dad, Mom, if you're free, stop running over here to bother me.

This is the apartment I'm renting."

"Reina, how cold-hearted. We're just worried about our daughter living all alone out here—whether you're doing well, whether you eat three meals a day on time."

Arakawa Risa put on a pitiful, teary-eyed expression.

Maybe it's all that constant nourishment of love, but her skin was no different from a woman in her early twenties, her body brimming with mature charm, while her personality was pretty much stuck at grade school level.

She'd throw a tantrum and act spoiled at the drop of a hat.

Arakawa Reina's lips curved into a smile.

She was clearly smiling, yet her parents felt a strange chill burst out from their daughter. "You miss me?

You clearly just miss my Noble Phantasm!"

Some people get their hands on a Noble Phantasm and immediately want to conquer the world.

Some people get their hands on a Noble Phantasm and immediately want to do lewd things.

No doubt about it, her parents were absolutely the latter type. No matter how busted the Ability was, they'd always twist it back around to the marital bed in the end.

In this whole world, only this pair of crazy parents could shamelessly ask their own daughter to help suspend them in midair and tie them up.

Anyone else would be dying to plug up their daughter's eyes, nose, mouth, and ears before doing that kind of thing.

Arakawa Jiro said with a perfectly frank look, "Reina, you need to understand art.

Art is something lofty. You can't put on any colored glasses when it comes to human interaction.

We use pen and ink to portray the purest collisions, to express the rawest emotions of the human body—what could be more wonderful than that?"

"Sounds so nice when you say it. But other people only use your doujins for that kind of thing anyway."

Arakawa Reina snarked.

She really couldn't figure out what her dad was thinking, how he could actually be willing to use her mom's body as reference to draw all kinds of plots.

Then sell them for those shut-in otaku and guys with no girlfriends, who can only rely on their own hands to bust a nut.

Doesn't his scalp itch from the green glow over his head?

"Reina, anything that can really move people is art."

Arakawa Jiro replied with a righteous look, then suddenly noticed his daughter's outfit seemed a bit off today.

Normally that slightly wavy black hair of hers was left completely unstyled, but today she was actually wearing a cute hair accessory.

Sailor uniform, short skirt, black stockings.

Taking in that outfit, Arakawa Jiro suddenly showed a shocked expression. "Reina, don't tell me you're going out on a date with someone?"

"Haha, no way."

Risa grinned from ear to ear.

In her mind, her daughter was still that diligent, hardworking, obedient good girl. It never occurred to her that her daughter had already reached the age where she could do that kind of thing.

"Reina's not even at the age yet..."

Halfway through her sentence, Risa suddenly realized that her daughter was in high school this year. "Ah!"

She let out a shriek, then turned to her husband with a horrified look. "Our daughter is already in high school?"

"Yeah. She's already at the age where she can go with some boy to all kinds of hotels and do all kinds of things before we even notice."

Arakawa Jiro sighed deeply. "I just wonder which lucky pig gets to cash in."

"Father, you're the pig here!"

Arakawa Reina smiled, but her tone was especially sharp, her gaze treating him like garbage.

She couldn't tolerate anyone bad-mouthing Aozawa.

Even if it was her father, he'd get a full-on scolding.

Besides, what right did a father like this have to criticize a perfect man like Mr. Aozawa!

"Daughters can't be kept."

Arakawa Jiro didn't show any of that anger or frustration most parents would when scolded by their daughter.

He was very calm at this moment and asked, "So when are you bringing that guy over for us to meet?"

"Yeah, I'm really curious too about who gets to take my precious daughter."

"We'll talk about it when there's a chance."

Arakawa Reina vaguely glossed over the topic.

She was still thinking about when to make her move on Aozawa.

The timing had to be perfect—she couldn't be too far ahead of the young lady, but she couldn't fall behind her either.

Although, if she did end up losing to the young lady...

Being whipped by Aozawa while carrying that humiliation and frustration might actually be pretty nice too!

Arakawa Reina bit into an Orleans chicken pizza slice, like a starving wolf tearing into meat.

Seeing that expression on his daughter's face, Arakawa Jiro knew deep down that she truly took after her father—definitely a meat-eater queen type.

That guy was probably doomed to tears. Without kidneys as ironclad as his, there's no way he'd survive his daughter milking him dry.

Poor bastard.

Arakawa Jiro couldn't help feeling smug about his own physique.

Born with the holy body of a draft animal—plowing the same field for over twenty years and still going strong.

...

Kasai Rinkai Park.

This was the place Arakawa Reina and Aozawa had agreed on.

Originally, Arakawa Reina had used the excuse that she had something to do to ask Aozawa out to hang.

But Aozawa knew perfectly well she didn't actually have anything going on, so he simply said he'd just gotten two tickets for the Kasai Rinkai Park ferris wheel and invited Arakawa Reina to come check it out.

Arakawa Reina just wanted to be with Aozawa; where they went didn't matter.

Not to mention, Aozawa had specially bought tickets to ride the ferris wheel with her.

She agreed on the spot.

They set the meeting time for eight in the morning, at the entrance of Kasai Rinkai Park.

Arakawa Reina arrived ten minutes early, a light beige bag hanging off her arm, running her fingers through her wavy black hair.

Instead of standing in the shade, she waited right under the sun.

The sun wasn't that hot right now, no need to hide from it. Shining on her like that actually felt pretty nice.

Standing on the right, Arakawa Reina felt something was off. Normally when she went out she'd always draw the gazes of the opposite sex around her.

But not today.

It was like her charm had suddenly stopped working.

Arakawa Reina couldn't help lowering her head, suspecting she'd made some mistake in how she dressed.

But when she took out her compact and checked, she couldn't find anything wrong.

Arakawa Reina was puzzled.

Phoenix Academy Maggie, standing to the left, had also noticed that the usual annoying stares were gone.

But she was more than happy with the peace and quiet.

Even at such a close distance, the two still didn't notice each other.

Not even the passersby around them spared them a second glance.

All of this was thanks to Aozawa.

He had used the Noble Phantasm Will-o'-the-wisp in advance to Hypnosis everyone in and around Kasai Rinkai Park.

In their eyes, Phoenix Academy Maggie and Arakawa Reina's looks had been downgraded straight to average.

The type of women who didn't merit a second look.

Aozawa looked at the two of them, then down at the time. He decided to appear in their line of sight right at eight o'clock sharp.

"Morning, Aozawa."

The greeting came out almost in unison.

Both girls turned to look at him, smiling.

What a Paradise-worthy scene.

Aozawa marveled inwardly.

Using Will-o'-the-wisp to pull off this three-way date was something he'd only done because he had no other choice.

He really didn't know any clone techniques.

Since he couldn't split into two people to accompany them separately, the only option was to use a few tricks so he could date both girls at the same time.

"Morning, Maggie. What are we doing today?"

Based on their personalities, Aozawa had decided today's date would mainly follow Phoenix Academy Maggie's lead.

As for Arakawa Reina's date, that one would be guided by him, with him deciding where they went.

"Let's go walk along the seaside. I've got a yacht moored over there."

Phoenix Academy Maggie smiled and said lazily, "Taking a yacht out on the sea this time of year is actually pretty fun."

"Sure."

Aozawa nodded, then turned and used Will-o'-the-wisp to say to Arakawa Reina, "Class Rep, I heard they've got a boat rental thing here. How about we rent a boat and cruise around the sea first?"

"'Kay."

Arakawa Reina nodded without a hint of objection.

As long as she could be with Aozawa, anything they did would feel meaningful to her.

Even if it was just fishing with him out at sea, she'd have the patience to stick it out.

Aozawa let out a silent breath of relief, stepped forward, and took both their hands—one on each side—smiling as he said, "Then let's go."