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Chapter 240: Minami, Whose Daughter Is This?
🕑 Added 2025-03-31 06:04:00 +0000 UTCMinami revoked Mirai's speaking rights — this rebellious daughter needed to be silenced — and instead chose to talk directly with Nijika and Ryo.
Thanks to his exceptional social skills, the awkward topic of Mirai recklessly shouting "Mama" was skillfully glossed over.
At the very least, Nijika no longer cared. In fact, she even smiled and greeted Mirai.
But that's all it was — a simple greeting.
This sudden outburst of affection from a so-called "daughter fan" who jumped out of nowhere and hugged her, calling her "Nijika Mama ," was a bit too intense for a seventeen-year-old girl to handle.
While Nijika wasn't particularly bothered anymore, Yamada Ryo, on the other hand, had been silently staring at Mirai, saying nothing.
Unlike Nijika's tolerance and gentleness, Ryo had a very different take on the newly arrived Mirai.
More accurately—
Yamada Ryo was suspicious.
For the average person, after hearing Minami's explanation and seeing that Mirai was clearly older than them, they'd probably drop the matter entirely.
But Yamada Ryo was no average person.
When something piqued her interest, she pursued it with relentless determination.
Sure, you could explain Mirai calling her "Ryo Mama" as just being a "daughter fan" or something like that. That would make sense.
But when Mirai called her "Mama," the way she said it — that pleading tone only a daughter would use when asking for affection — was unmistakably genuine.
It truly felt like she was her real daughter.
Of course, that wasn't the only reason Ryo was suspicious.
She also vividly remembered what Mirai had said when she first hugged her.
The bass music collection reaching No.1 on Billboard, and the goal of performing at Glastonbury Festival, the world's largest music festival…
These two goals were secrets Ryo had never told anyone — not even Minami.
Yet Mirai had exposed all her innermost ambitions in a single meeting.
This made Ryo question the relationship between Minami and Mirai even more.
And if you looked closely, it was easy to see the similarities between the two.
The gentle features.
The particularly clear, pure eyes.
And that strange, reassuring feeling when they smiled…
Yamada Ryo's suspicion deepened.
She was seriously starting to believe that Mirai was truly Minami's daughter.
But if that were true, then another major problem arose.
The issue of age.
Minami, like her, was a seventeen-year-old high school junior.
Yet Mirai, judging by her appearance and style, was clearly in her early twenties — a college student at the very least.
How could a seventeen-year-old Minami possibly have a twenty-something daughter?
It was impossible.
However—
"I don't care about that."
Expressionless, Yamada Ryo muttered to herself.
She continued to embrace her typical carefree, self-centered attitude, unconcerned with others' opinions or how they might judge her.
She didn't make mistakes.
Even if her conclusions went against common sense, the world was wrong — not her.
That was how Yamada Ryo operated.
Mirai was Minami's daughter.
Yamada Ryo ultimately arrived at that conclusion.
After all, having spent so much time with Minami, she'd begun to sense that Minami might possess some sort of supernatural ability.
Given that—
Yamada Ryo cupped her chin, looking at Mirai and the smiling Minami, silently coming to a decision.
Meanwhile, elsewhere—
"It's already this late?"
Chatting pleasantly with Minami, Nijika glanced at her phone and let out a surprised exclamation.
It was already 11 PM.
Although her house was right next to the Starry live house and she didn't need to worry about catching the last train, it was still quite late for a girl her age.
"It's already this late... Minami-kun, Ryo, and Mirai-san... I'll be heading out now. Minami-kun, could I trouble you to lock up Starry for me?"
"Of course."
Ever since Minami had moved into Starry, he was usually the one to lock up at night.
"Alright then, I'll take my leave first. Ryo, hurry home too. Mirai-san, Minami-kun, you two should rest early as well."
Standing up, Nijika gave another friendly farewell to Yamada Ryo and Mirai, then turned and left.
Nijika was gone.
She really didn't look back even once.
While she could leave without any worries, Minami couldn't do as she said and "rest early."
Because aside from needing to sleep himself, he had to think of a place for Shouji Mirai to stay!
That's right!
As someone from the future, Mirai's driver's license, university student ID, and other documents had all been seen by Minami.
Those documents, marked with the date 2052, simply couldn't be used in this era.
If shown to a hotel or innkeeper, they'd definitely think Minami and Mirai were playing a prank on them.
In other words—
Relying on Mirai's documents to stay somewhere was basically impossible. She was essentially an unregistered citizen with no legal identity.
Minami looked at his simulator and sighed in frustration.
Back in his hometown, he often read fanfics about traveling to different worlds.
In those stories, the system always prepared a suitable identity for the protagonist and their companions.
But his own system?
Utterly useless! It just brought people over and didn't care at all about their food, clothing, or shelter.
Simulator-chan!
You're seriously so irresponsible!
Minami couldn't help but poke the simulator's interface with his finger.
No valid ID.
No help from the simulator.
Even with money, it would be hard to find a place to stay outside.
He couldn't just send his own daughter to sleep at a net café for the night, right?
Sure, Japanese net cafés had manga, self-service drinks, and even food delivery options...
But a net café was still a net café.
No matter how well packaged it was, those places were frequented by runaways, rebellious youths, and homeless people.
Letting his daughter spend a night in such a chaotic place?
Minami was absolutely not okay with that.
So...
Even if he was reluctant, Minami figured he'd have to share a room with Mirai tonight.
But...
As he thought about this, he glanced at Mirai beside him.
She seemed to realize something too, gazing at him with an extremely eager and cheerful expression.
That delicate face, which had inherited all the best features of the Shouji and Shinjo families, faintly showed traces of excitement.
If it were another daughter... Minami probably wouldn't care this much or be so conflicted.
Just one room—whatever, they're father and daughter.
But this one...
Mirai was a father-con girl!
And the kind that had been obsessed with her dad since childhood!
Sharing a room with someone like her...
Minami had every reason to worry about his chastity.
Just as he was thinking this, Mirai, as if reading his thoughts, cleared her throat and said, "Dad... Minami-kun, you see? Nijika said it herself. Shouldn't we head to bed soon too?"
As she spoke, she hid all the eagerness and excitement on her face.
Her righteous and proper appearance made it seem like she simply wanted to sleep because it was late.
But no matter how well she hid it, she couldn't fool Minami.
Her breathing was clearly heavier, and her gaze toward him was... off.
Nope.
Absolutely not.
If he stayed in the same room with her, something weird was definitely going to happen.
Minami frowned.
If worse came to worst, he'd go sleep at a net café.
No way was he going to let this rebellious daughter succeed.
Just as he was about to speak—
"Mirai can stay at my house," Yamada Ryo said lazily and elegantly, fingers interlaced, amber eyes blinking. The tear mole beneath her deep blue hair gave off a faint charm.
Her words...
Stunned Mirai, who was just about to succeed in her plan.
She never expected...
At a moment when her cooked duck was already on the plate and ready to eat... it suddenly flew away.
Yamada Ryo actually butted in.
Mirai opened her mouth, unable to hold back anymore:
"W-Wait a second, Ryo-ma... Ryo-san, we've only known each other for less than half an hour, right? Isn't it a bit inappropriate for me to just go stay at your place?"
She was just being honest.
It had only been about half an hour since Mirai came downstairs and met Yamada Ryo.
From a normal person's point of view, no one would ever invite someone they just met to their home like that.
It's like meeting a runaway high school girl on the street, and instead of calling the police, you just bring her home — who does that?
But clearly, Yamada-san wasn't a normal person.
After hearing what Mirai said, she casually raised her head and replied:
"Doesn't matter. You're my daughter too, right?"
"Eh...?"
The moment those words came out.
Mirai, who had just been ready to keep arguing, completely froze.
But that moment of silence didn't last long. Mirai quickly tapped into her acting-major instincts, forced a calm smile, and lowered her tone to sound more convincing:
"Ryo-san, what are you talking about? I already explained earlier — I'm just a fan of the Kessoku band."
Her expression was serious, her tone clear, and she looked Yamada Ryo straight in the eyes.
Anyone else would probably have believed that she was telling the truth.
However—
"Minami, she's our daughter, right?"
Yamada Ryo ignored Mirai's words and, completely doing her own thing, turned to Minami.
"...Yeah. She is. For certain reasons, she came to this world."
Seeing the seriousness in Yamada Ryo's expression.
Minami decided not to hide it anymore and just came clean.
It's true they couldn't tell just anyone about this situation.
But Yamada-san and the absent Chisato Nishikigi were exceptions.
Even if he told them about it, they'd probably just think it was fun and not worry about the rest.
So facing Yamada Ryo, there was really no need to keep hiding Mirai's identity.
"Dad!"
As soon as Minami admitted it.
Mirai couldn't hold it in anymore.
Her soft pink lips parted, her eyes widened in protest:
"How could you tell Ryo Mama about this? Didn't you tell me to keep it a secret?"
Mirai really shouldn't have brought that up.
Because the moment she did, Minami got annoyed.
He reached out and poked her forehead:
"I did tell you to keep it a secret, but did you? Weren't you the one who started blabbering about your identity to Ryo and Nijika first?"
He shook his head in exasperation:
"And now you're blaming me?"
"B-But... I..."
Mirai looked left at Minami.
Then looked right at Yamada Ryo with her amber eyes.
Both of them were way younger than her, yet...
She couldn't muster any will to resist and could only let out a defeated "Ugh..." before falling silent.
Seeing her give up.
Yamada Ryo leaned in and asked curiously,
"Minami, whose kid is she?"
Just from looking at Mirai's eyes and how she spoke, Yamada Ryo could tell.
This girl wasn't her and Minami's child.
But that didn't mean Yamada Ryo disliked her.
Even if Mirai was the child of some rival, the child herself was innocent.
Yamada-san prided herself on her broad-mindedness and was willing to accept and love Mirai.
"She's mine and Akane's kid."
Minami didn't hide it and answered directly.
"Oh, so she's that pinkish-and-purple-haired woman's daughter..."
Yamada Ryo immediately recalled Shinjo Akane, whom she had met once during the Cultural Festival.
Now that she thought about it...
Mirai's shoulder-length hair and crimson eyes did bear a striking resemblance to Shinjo Akane.
And on top of that, Mirai called her "Ryo Mama."
This caused an unusual flicker of interest to rise on Ryo's usually expressionless face.
"So that means… in the future, Minami's already gone down the multi-route? How many people is he with?"
This clearly wasn't a question for Minami Shouji, but rather directed at Mirai.
"Papa… In the future, he married all of Kessoku Band and Mama together."
No choice.
Mirai could only tell the truth.
"All of Kessoku Band... and Shinjo Akane too…"
Hearing this, Yamada Ryo's calm face grew more curious.
Feeling the shift in her mood, Mirai couldn't help but whisper:
"Um... Ryo Mama , aren't you bothered? That Papa has a harem in the future…"
Right?
Don't girls usually want their boyfriends to have fewer partners?
So why did Ryo seem completely unconcerned—and even interested?
Mirai was baffled.
But under her confused gaze, Ryo calmly responded:
"Why would I be?"
"I'm in it."
"That's enough."
She said it simply.
