Could it really be that humble?
Rosen looked at Kagami Nanase curled up on the sofa, sympathy coloring his face.
Kagami Nanase had been born into an utterly ordinary family and was raised solely by her mother from infancy.
Yet her very birth had been a tragedy—an accident.
She was the product of her mother's affair with a married man.
In short, she was the child of a mistress.
Her mother had given birth to Nanase only to demand child-support from the biological father, and she routinely abused the girl; Nanase had never had a full meal in her life.
At school she suffered the classic Japanese campus bullying, eating lunch hidden in a toilet stall.
When her biological father died in her first year of middle school, the support payments stopped and her mother branded her a burden, nearly murdering her several times.
Rosen had taken Kagami Nanase away right after one such beating.
According to the original story,
after Mio granted her a spirit crystal, Nanase had planned to turn her abusive mother into a frog and crush her—but stopped at the last second.
She realized she didn't want revenge; she only wanted a family's love.
Now, Kagami Nanase walked the same path.
She didn't hate her mother; she only wanted a home.
Because her old home was forever lost, she could only seek warmth from Rosen.
This was different from the bonds shared by the other girls.
They could be comrades or friends, but only in Rosen did Kagami Nanase feel the warmth of family.
Rosen stepped in front of Kagami Nanase and, ignoring her startled fluster, slipped his arms around her waist and lifted her into an embrace.
"Eh? G-God, what… what are you doing?"
Had they been alone, Kagami Nanase might have simply yielded.
But being held by Rosen in front of everyone was mortifying!
"Nanase, you've had it hard all these years."
The instant those words left Rosen's lips, Kagami Nanase's body went rigid.
Tears began to seep from her eyes.
"No one loves me?"
The thought flashed through her mind and filled her with shame.
What was she thinking?
The God had taken her away from that unloving home, introduced her to dear friends, and now—plain and ordinary as she was—held her in his arms.
Within Rosen's embrace she felt the warmth of a cradle.
Everyone accepted Nanase and told her she could stay as long as she wished.
Only here could she obtain what she had always pursued, longed for, yet never gained.
Everyone here loved Nanase!
In an instant Rosen's gesture shattered the long-standing wall around her heart.
Kagami Nanase wrapped her arms around Rosen and soaked in his warmth.
If possible, she wished she could stay like this forever.
Of course, that was impossible.
The moment she came back to her senses she felt a sharp gaze nearby.
She turned to find Mio staring straight at her; though Mio looked as calm as ever, Nanase couldn't help feeling afraid.
It wasn't a difference in power—it was the spirit crystal inside her reacting to Mio.
After all, every Spirit's spirit crystal was a fragment of power split from Reine's body.
In other words, to a certain extent, Reine was the mother of them all.
I—I'm sorry, I lost control for a moment.
Kagami Nanase hurriedly climbed off Rosen's body.
Though her voice still sounded timid, she was already far better than the girl who at first hadn't dared to look at or speak to anyone.
It's fine. As long as your wish is fulfilled.
Rosen nodded.
Then he turned to the other girls in the room.
"Yakumo, Yūka—what about you two?"
"Heh… this consort naturally has a wish to be granted, just as the sun will always hang in the sky when night ends."
"Declaration: Yūka shares Yakumo's sentiment. O deity, please grant our wish."
The Yayoi Sisters spoke in unison.
Yet for all their grandeur, their wish was simple.
Though Yayoi Yakumo and Yayoi Yūka were two halves of one Spirit, their personalities were poles apart—precisely why they wanted to settle once and for all who was superior.
Unlike in the original story, where one sister would vanish so the other could live, they now wanted Rosen to choose the worthier of them as the elder sister; the loser would be the younger.
"That will take some time. And though you ask me to choose, you'll both have to show me your outstanding qualities first."
Rosen chuckled.
"Declaration: Yūka's merits are already obvious."
At those words, Yayoi Yūka unconsciously puffed out her chest.
Though the two Spirits were split from one, the calm and gentle Yayoi Yūka was better endowed in figure.
Hearing that, Yayoi Yakumo's temper flared.
"Heh… Merely possessing such assets won't win the deity's favor. The knowledge in this palace's mind is as radiant as the moon—kneel before me!"
Yayoi Yakumo retorted, refusing to yield.
Ahem.
Sensing the other girls' increasingly odd stares, Rosen coughed lightly and cut the sisters' quarrel short.
Secretly, he sent them a message: tonight, come to his room so he could personally assess their respective merits.
The Yayoi Sisters blushed but did not refuse.
Eek!
Honjo Tokiya instantly pictured a certain scene, her face twisting in an odd expression.
She said nothing, however.
After becoming Familia, none of them minded such things anymore.
Only maidenly reserve kept them from being completely open about it.