The setting sun dyed the streets in a crimson afterglow, the evening light spilling across the pavement like liquid fire.
Not long after parting ways with Shinonomiya Natsuka, Rai Hikaru made his way back to the Tsubakihara residence.
He had just stepped up to the front door when, before he could even knock, the security door clicked and swung open from the inside.
A stunning woman stood there waiting—gorgeous features, a tall, willowy figure with lush curves, the very picture of an exquisite mature beauty.
"Welcome home, Hikaru-chan," she said with a smile.
"Yeah. I'm back, Miss Mira," Rai Hikaru replied, smiling back at the breathtaking beauty before him.
"I'm in the middle of cooking. Dinner will be ready any minute, so get yourself ready to eat," Tsubakihara Mira said, smiling, an apron tied over her clothes.
"Okay. By the way, Miss Mira, if you're cooking, how did you open the door so fast? I didn't even knock yet," Rai Hikaru asked curiously.
"Didn't you see the new camera by the door? I recorded your face into the system. As soon as it spots Hikaru-chan, it alerts me right away. I have to be the first person to welcome you home, after all," Mira answered with a cheerful laugh.
"…That so," Rai Hikaru said, the corner of his mouth twitching as he forced a wry smile.
He was technically the adopted son here, but Miss Mira's concern and attention to him were no less than what she showed her two biological daughters—if anything, she doted on him even more.
Her focus on him, though, and that strong sense of possessiveness, had long since crossed into something… strange.
She had personally chosen all his clothes since he was little; she fussed over his food, clothing, housing, and transport; any love letter some girl dared to sneak into his bag got calmly torn to shreds with a gentle smile on her face.
When he hit puberty, she even offered to "help relieve his pent-up energy."
She had "borrowed" his real first kiss under the pretense of giving him proper adult instruction so he would not embarrass himself when he started dating in the future.
Yes—what happened with Shinonomiya later was just the first kiss of his teenage years.
His actual first kiss had been stolen by Miss Mira back when he was still in kindergarten or elementary school.
In the years after, under the same excuse of "guidance," Mira had taught him all kinds of adult knowledge.
Sometimes Rai Hikaru wondered if she had adopted him as a future son-in-law for her two daughters, raising him as a sort of groom-in-residence.
She never treated him like a man, though.
She would walk around naked in front of him as if it were nothing, and even after he entered middle school it was still common for her to drag him into the bath with her.
For his own sanity—and because he was afraid that one day he might just lose control and commit some unforgivable sin—Rai Hikaru had only recently started renting a place of his own.
Ever since he moved out, every time he came back to visit, Mira insisted she had to be there to greet him the moment he arrived.
And now she had actually installed a special camera just for that, which Rai Hikaru had to grudgingly respect for sheer dedication.
While he was lost in thought, Mira had already knelt to help him out of his shoes and taken his bag from him before turning and walking back into the house.
"Sit tight and wait a bit, Hikaru-chan. Dinner will be ready soon," she called over her shoulder, her apron swaying as she sashayed toward the kitchen.
"Okay," Rai Hikaru replied, though his eyes betrayed him and drifted, unbidden, to her retreating back.
With two campus-queen-level daughters, it was no surprise their mother's looks were on another level.
Despite already having two girls, Mira still looked incredibly young—a gorgeous young wife with not a hint of age on her, almost too youthful.
The most dangerous thing about her, though, was that body.
Those long legs, that high, shapely ass, that wasp waist and impossibly full chest—no matter how many years he had spent watching her grow older, Rai Hikaru's eyes still sometimes got caught, instinctively drawn in.
Maybe because she was home alone, all she had on under the apron was a white cropped camisole and a pair of very short hot pants.
From any angle, there was nothing to criticize about Mira's figure.
If there was one feature that drew the eye the most, it was her butt.
Those two full, round cheeks jutted out so boldly they practically overhung her shoulders, while her waist was slim enough to circle with both hands and her long legs were straight, pale, and smooth.
That slender waist and those long legs only made the plump roundness of her hips look even more exaggerated, a truly shocking contrast.
As the saying goes, "If the ass goes past the shoulders, life is better than a god's."
Rai Hikaru had no idea if Mira was doing it on purpose or not.
But every time she walked back and forth from the kitchen, carrying plates to the table, those two perfect, bouncing globes would ripple with each step, locking his adolescent eyes in place.
He silently began reciting sutras to himself, forcibly dragging his gaze away.
To distract himself, he spoke up.
"By the way, Miss Mira, Yuna and Rina aren't home? Where did they go?"
Having just set the dishes down, Tsubakihara Mira smiled.
"You mean Yuna and Rina? They went over to your Aunt Kasumi's place to play."
Rai Hikaru accepted the bowl of rice from her and started eating as he nodded.
"Oh, over at Aunt Kasumi's, huh? Now that you mention it, it's been a while since I've seen her…"
In his mind, the image of another beautiful mature woman rose—one who could stand shoulder to shoulder with Mira in allure.
Kasumi's household was similar to Mira's: husband dead early, raising a pair of twin daughters on her own.
Kasumi and her two girls were also very close with Rai Hikaru.
If Mira was half a foster mother to him, then Kasumi was the other half.
Officially, he was adopted by Mira, but when he was younger, he had effectively been raised by both Mira and Kasumi together.
Back then, Mira worked a lot and was often too busy to watch him, so she had asked Kasumi, who lived next door at the time, to look after him whenever she had time.
In the end, the two of them had practically co-parented him.
He spent Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays at the Tsubakihara house, Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays at Kasumi's.
Sundays were for big joint family dinners—two mothers, their four daughters, and Rai Hikaru at the table. Seven people total.
Later, when Kasumi got busier at work and had to move, Rai Hikaru started living primarily with Mira.
Even so, whenever he had time on the weekend, he would still visit Kasumi's home.
Mira must have seen the way his thoughts had wandered.
She slipped a fried chicken wing into his bowl and gave him a teasingly sweet smile.
"Hikaru-chan, are you missing Kasumi? How about we go visit her together this weekend?"
Rai Hikaru chuckled.
"Sure, if you're free then, Miss Mira."
Even with just the two of them, the mood at the table was relaxed and warm.
Mira was simply too charming: mature, intelligent, beautiful, perfectly built, big-hearted, and she knew his tastes and habits inside and out.
Being around her always left Rai Hikaru with a genuine sense of happiness—it was a pleasure he found very hard to give up.
Halfway through the meal, Mira suddenly stood up with a grin.
"I need to watch my figure, so I'll stop here. The rest of the food is all yours, Hikaru-chan."
With that, she announced she was going to take a bath.
Rai Hikaru did not mind in the least. The more leftovers, the better.
Ever since his system had awakened, his physique had surged far beyond that of an ordinary person, and so had his caloric needs.
When Mira was still at the table, he had held back a little—chatting and making sure his eating did not look too monstrous.
Now that she had gone to bathe, he switched into full-on devouring mode.
He cleaned every plate and bowl until they were spotless.
"Mira's cooking is as good as ever. Her food is just too good," he muttered, rubbing his stuffed stomach in satisfaction.
At that moment, his phone buzzed in his pocket.
Rai Hikaru glanced at the screen.
Caller ID: "Aso Miyuri."
"The landlord?"
He raised an eyebrow.
The call was from none other than Aso Miyuri, the landlady of the apartment he was renting now.
At the sight of her name, a certain image popped into Rai Hikaru's head—a legal-loli type with twin-tails, petite but very much of age.