What I definitely hadn’t expected was Alex’s family to be this big. Besides Shifra and Carla, there were three other daughters apparently! Two of them were too busy with a school project, so I only got to meet Aura.

Aura was like the opposite of Carla, preferring to wear white colors, had bleached hair apparently, and had a permanent pleasant smile. Although just like Carla, she didn’t speak much.

Oddly enough, Carla’s death glare and Aura’s pleasant smile canceled each other out, making me feel normal.

Did those two come as a set?

“So, where to first, my guide?” I smiled at the colorful girl.

She smiled back. “Let’s go to the sweets shop! There’s this one I love!”

“Lead the way!”

She grabbed my hand and pulled me in the direction she was pointing. Alex and the two other silent daughters were trailing behind.

As we made our way to the legendary sweets shop Shifra enthusiastically described, my thoughts turned to the girls and their guardian. Something wasn’t quite right.

Sure, I was pretty dense and it had taken me ages to figure out what should have been obvious before. But not this time! I had trained for ages in order to undense myself and ascend to normal-personhood!

And now that I thought about it, these girls didn’t seem like siblings at all. They were all wildly different not just in appearances, but also in personalities. Not to mention, they kept calling Alex mama, even though Alex insisted on being a man.

There was no other explanation. Alex had to have adopted all of them! There was no way they were all related by blood!

I nodded to myself, acknowledging my genius detective skills, and followed Shifra through the sweets shop.

“These gummy worms are delicious! Oh and this chocolate is the best one in the world!” the colorful girl cheered.

“I see! I should buy some for my girlfriend then,” I mused.

Fern had a surprising sweet tooth. I was sure she would appreciate gummy worms as a silly reminder of what our first-ever meeting was like.

“Auntie Aster has a girlfriend?” Shifra stared at me bug-eyed.

“Uh… yeah?”

“That’s so cool! I want to have a girlfriend too!”

“W-what? Well… I mean… I’m sure you’ll find yourself someone eventually…?”

I couldn’t tell through all that energy and enthusiasm whether she was actually gay or she just liked copying other people. Well, being young as she was, she would probably still be figuring these things out in the future.

We left the shop with a bag full of sweets. Alex and the two others hadn’t come into the shop with us, instead preferring to do some window shopping in the nearby stores.

I noticed Alex eyeing a cute dress behind the glass…

“Mama! That dress would look amazing on you!” my companion pointed out with a smile.

“W-what?! I’m not gonna wear a dress! I’m a guy!”

“But you were looking at it like you really wanted to wear it!”

“I-I was just daydreaming… I wasn’t looking at it.”

Huh…

“Anyway, are you done with the sweets shop?” Alex changed the topic.

“Yes! We got all the delicious sweets now!”

“Alright, let’s umm…”

“Let’s go visit the zoo! I promised my friend, Mr. elephant, I would visit him soon!” the pure energy in the form of a girl interrupted.

“Shifra…” Alex started with a sigh. “We had been to the zoo just last Thursday. We can’t afford to go there every week.”

Oh, huh? Money problems?

“Hey, it’s okay. I’ll pay for it,” I suggested. “After all, it’s not fair that I get to be guided for free, right?”

“I…” Alex looked pained. “If you’re okay with it…”

“Totally!”

After all, the pay I got as a hero was surprisingly high. 

“Well, alright… If miss Aster is fine with it, then…”

“Oh just call me Aster! And I really don’t mind. I haven’t been to a zoo in ages.”

“Okay, Aster,” Alex finally conceded.

With a smile, we set off to the zoo.

On our way there, my thoughts went back to Alex. There was something about Alex that kept nagging on me.

Since he had adopted five kids, shouldn’t he get some benefits for it? Is the money from that not enough? Or maybe Shifra simply spent too much money on things like the zoo? I needed to look up how it all worked.

Upon arriving at the zoo and paying the entry fee for everyone, Shifra immediately dragged me away to meet and say hi to Mr. elephant.

After him, there were the monkeys, the tigers, and several other animals. Then, at the bird section, Shifra suddenly shouted, “Mama! Mama! I want auntie Aster to be part of our family!”

What? S-she wanted to marry me or something?

“Shifra! What are you saying?!” Alex glanced at me, alarmed.

“But Mama! She’s the perfect auntie and I love her! Why can’t she be our real auntie?!”

Oh. That’s what she’d meant.

“Well, I had fun today! I wouldn’t mind being your auntie. It’s fun being around such a lively family.”

As opposed to my real one.

“I…” Alex seemed to hesitate. That kinda stung. Sure, we met for the first time today, so trusting me right away would be difficult, but still…

“Mama… Please…”

Oh, the bug-eyed cutesy pleading attack. I knew that one.

“I…”

Oh, the attack had landed a critical hit.

“Alright… If Aster is fine with it, then why not.” Alex extended a hand for a handshake.

Was Alex trying to make up for not shaking my hand back at the square?

I didn’t think about it much and grabbed the hand in a handshake.

“Sorry about this,” Alex muttered.

“Hmm? No really, I don’t mind,” I assured Alex.

Shifra and Aura were all smiles looking at us. And even Carla had a smirk on her face to break the eternal death glare.

At some point, I remembered Fern had said she would be making dinner. I excused myself, exchanged phone numbers with Alex, and left the family in the zoo.

My mind returned to them right away though. There was still something that nagged me about them. Something important I had missed. Something I should have realized way, way sooner.

And then it clicked with me and I stopped in my tracks, eyes wide open.

All these girls calling Alex ‘Mama’. I should have realized it sooner.

I scrambled to pull out a phone from my bag and dialed Fern. I anxiously waited for her to pick up, and when she finally did, I said, “Fern! I… I found her!”

“What? Aster? You found who?”

“I… She… She’s like me! I found an egg!”

BottledChaos

Well would you look at that! Aster figured it out without ignoring the obvious! What? She ignored something else obvious? Eh, good enough! Remember that if you wanna read ahead to see what happens, you can pledge on my patreon!