The three sisters had their eyes wide open, and Yurikago faintly moved her eyebrows. Akiha had an expression of sympathy on her face, while Kohaku let out a sigh because Aoba finally said what she wanted to say.
—-I want to know who my real mother is.
This was a shadow that had been following Miyagi Aoba around and has tormented her over the years.
When Taiyou visited the Miyagi household and heard their story, he had a feeling that this was the case.
Taiyou speculated that there were two reasons for Aoba as to why she left home, the first was that it was purely because her father wanted to increase the amount of his lovers by one. The second possible reason was that it acted as a fuse for a deep seated problem that has been bothering her since a long time ago.
He didn’t know which one it was, but he thought that the second reason was more likely.
It turned out that it was just as Taiyou had expected. Having a new woman being added to the harem and someone new that she had to call mother was just an excuse for her to get angry. Because of this opportunity to make an excuse, the thing that troubled her for so many years exploded.
Aoba started to cry, letting out a loud voice as tears streamed down her face.
Taiyou just let her cry as much as she desired. Although the three sisters couldn’t stand it any longer and was going to try to comfort Aoba, Kohaku gently stopped them.
After letting her emotions out and crying bitterly, she was finally able to calm down, that’s when Taiyou started to talk to her again.
「You truly want to find that out don’t you?」
「…….Yeah」
「If you later find out that amongst those three women, that none of them is your real mother, are you sure you won’t regret this decision?」
Hearing Taiyou’s words, Aoba’s body shook as she trembled.
Although she seemed scared, her face did not show an expression of shock. She herself had probably imagined such a possibility.
「For her to not have a real mother」 (Kotone speaking)
「Is there really such a thing?」 (Suzune Speaking)
「Then Miyagi-san will—」 (Kazane Speaking)
「This is just a possibility, in Miyagi-san’s case just thinking about it there are four potential patterns to this scenario. Her real mother can either be: A, B, C or option D neither any of them」 (Taiyou speaking)
「Strictly speaking if it was in fact option D, it could be further split into a category of someone that it is someone she is acquainted with or someone totally unknown, but that’s probably something to talk at a later date jyana」 (Kohaku Speaking)
「Yeah, well these are just the potential possibilities」 (Taiyou Speaking)
After understanding it a little more, the three sisters turned their gazes towards Aoba as Taiyou asked her the question again.
「If you want me to investigate this, there is a possibility that you might dig out something you don’t want to see. Therefore, let me ask once again, do you really wish to know?」
Saying this, Taiyou looked straight at Aoba. His eyes were like a further reminder.
Aoba hesitates a little bit but then she looked towards him.
「I want to know who my real mother is, I really want to know」
「Aoba, if you find out later that amongst those three mothers, none of them is your real mother, what are you going to do?」
Her closest friend Akiha asked the question. Normally she has a carefree atmosphere but you could tell that it was now filled with concern.
「I don’t know, but I still want to know」
「I see」
「I understand, if you’ve decided that then I will do everything in my power to help」
「B-but how are you going to do such a thing?」
「The first step is to take a DNA test, well this much is obvious though. But if we were to take this approach, how long would it normally take for the results to get back?」
Turning towards Kohaku, he asked her the question. Out of everyone here, she probably had the most knowledge, besides just a little while ago, she was involved in a project that was related to genes and genetic material so Taiyou thought that there is a large possibility that should would know about DNA testing as well.
As was expected, she answered him back promptly.
「In my approximation, it will take around ten days to finish, needing to wait for your turn and filling out the official doc.u.ments, also the time it would take to mail the results to us jya」
「Is there a faster method?」
「Umu, well if you spend a large sum of money, you can avoid all those processes and just obtain the results of the test right there on the spot jya. However, the problem lies in a different place」
「What do you mean?」
「When you hear about DNA testing, what kind of thing, or what do you think is the method of testing jya?」
「Well…. I thought that it was getting the hair of the person and then using that piece of DNA to perform the test, am I wrong?」
「Strictly speaking it is a little different from that, we can still use hair but that is not the best alternative. The best is if you can gather the saliva from that person and use that perform the test jya」
「The saliva….. from that persons mouth?」
「That’s right jya」
Taiyou looks down and had a thoughtful look.
He was thinking that if it was as simple as requiring a person"s strand of hair, then even if it may be a little troublesome to obtain, it wasn’t necessarily going to be a hard task.
However, if you were to try an obtain a person’s saliva from within their mouth then it was an entirely different story. Unlike just sneaking into someone’s house and stealing a strand of their hair, collecting someone’s saliva wasn’t that easy.
「Must we really do it like that though?」
「If you want to do this, don’t you want the results to be absolutely accurate jyaro?」
「……That’s true」
Taiyou nodded his head as he agreed with Kohaku.
If you were to perform a DNA test and the results of the test were ambiguous then there would be no point in making the test in the first place.
Especially with the possibility that “neither three of them” are her real mothers, he wanted to avoid an unclear result if at all possible.
Taiyou was thinking of a method in order to obtain the saliva from their mouths.
Naturally the answer didn’t come to him that quickly, in fact he was quite troubled as to what he should do. At any rate, it was the child that wanted to confirm who their real parents are…. He couldn’t really just ask the women to cooperate with him and give him a sample of their saliva… thus, there is really not much choice other than to do it stealthily or obtain the sample by force.
Doing it stealthily was difficult and so Taiyou could only think of methods that involved doing it forcibly. However, if he did it forcefully then regardless of Aoba being able to find the results, she might end up damaging her current relationship with her mothers.
And so he was desperately trying to find a method in order not to do that.
「I know of a method that will increase the accuracy of the results even if we use hair as the sample」
The person who interrupted and suggested this idea was Yurikago.
Because this was a matter that didn’t really involve her, she had just been quietly observing however, unable to stand it any longer she b.u.t.ted in the conversation.
「Is that really true?」
Grabbing on to her words as if they were a string that could let him escape h.e.l.l, he determinedly asked her back.
「Yeah, although it is just a faint memory, I’m not talking about the hair itself, but the white part at the tip of the roots, if you used that part then I heard the results will be much more accurate」
「The white part at the tip of its roots… I see」
Taiyou murmurs the words that Yurikago spoke like a parrot. Although this was also slightly more difficult than just getting any strand of hair, it was not something that he couldn’t do sneakily.
「With this method, will the results be out quickly as well?」
「Yes, because the person doing the tests will be affiliated with the Junishima family, I can introduce you guys」
「Thank you」
Giving his thanks to Yurikago the discussions was settled for the time being.
Late at night in Taiyou’s Castle.
Just when the clock strikes midnight, Taiyou felt a certain presence outside. The three sisters were sleeping peacefully and he gave each of them a kiss on the forehead. After tucking them in and making sure they wouldn’t get cold by covering them with a thin towel blanket, he quietly got out of the bedroom without making any noise.
The living room terrace did not have any lights on, but moonlight was shining and Aoba’s figure could be seen.
She was sitting on the sofa, and just looking at something. It wasn’t like she was looking at anything in particular, she was just absentmindedly staring into s.p.a.ce.
Taiyou approached her slowly and called out to her.
「You still not asleep?」
「Natsuno-kun」
Taiyou was a little shocked. Aoba was calling out to him in such a soft tone of voice.
Since the first time her talked to her, this was the calmest reaction he ever got from her.
At the very least he wasn’t just rejected immediately, therefore Taiyou sat down next to her.
「What were you doing out here?」
「I was just thinking about some things」
After saying that she stopped talking. Taiyou wanted to know what she was thinking about but he didn’t press her for an answer.
「Natsuno-kun, can I ask you something?」
「Ahh, ask me anything」
「Nastuno-kun, who do you like the most?」
「You asked me this question before haven’t you?」
Taiyou showed a bittersweet smile as he remembered that she had once reprimanded him while asking such a question. At that time, he couldn’t answer her properly and she got really angry. And now, the answer her gave may make her even more angry than before.
「Do you really want to hear the truth?」
「Yeah, let me hear it」
「For this matter…..my answer is probably, that it isn"t one of them」
「Eh?」
Aoba was surprised and it was a reaction he expected.
「If you were to ask me who she is, then it will be a little difficult to explain. To be honest I don’t even know her real name. I only know of her nickname, or perhaps it was an alias. Well, the girl I like the most right now is not, Kotone, Suzune, Kazane or even Kohaku-san, it was this girl」
「Do the other girls know about this as well?」
「Yes, they are aware of it. Or more like….」
Taiyou continued to speak..
「Kohaku-san told me this when we first began our relationship, she told me that ” she didn’t trust a man who claimed that he could love every woman equally” 」
「What do you mean?」
Aoba looked at him with astonishment.
「Equality is only an illusion, human beings are partial creatures. A man who says otherwise is someone she cannot trust. Rather than saying something like that, she preferred that I let her know how much I like on every separate occasion. I’m sure that she has thought deeply and experienced many things out in her life to be able to reach that kind of conclusion. That was just how much she denied the superficial connotation of the word “equality” 」