Facing the calm but serious inquiry from Manranyama Uminari, Tachikawa Wakaba had no way out.

Trying to act cute wouldn't work, so Tachikawa Wakaba could only brace herself and speak up.

"Sorry~" (Tachikawa Wakaba)

With her head lowered, Tachikawa Wakaba apologized softly to Manranyama Uminari.

"Apologizing won't make this go away." (Manranyama Uminari)

Manranyama Uminari remained stern without a hint of forgiveness.

"Did you already have a plan in mind when you made the request to me?" (Manranyama Uminari)

Following that, Manranyama Uminari posed a sharp question.

"Uh... Hmm?" (Tachikawa Wakaba)

Caught red-handed by Manranyama Uminari, Tachikawa Wakaba suddenly felt flustered.

"Well... well, I definitely didn't plan it like that at the time~" (Tachikawa Wakaba)

Tachikawa Wakaba's hesitant reply indicated that indeed, when she made the request to Manranyama Uminari, she didn't intend to immediately extend an invitation for Manranyama Souren to come home.

After all, she hadn't even figured out how to address Manranyama Souren properly.

It was truly a mysterious situation.

She was her own mother, but she had died in childbirth after giving birth to her, with no memories of her daughter at all. Even more so, after her resurrection, the gap between them only widened.

She was her daughter, but she had never seen her in person or exchanged words with her. All her knowledge about her mother came from various sources. And now, after her mother's resurrection, this was their first meeting.

How should she address her? Like all mothers, call her daughter by her name? She couldn't bring herself to do so because unfamiliarity was undeniable. She couldn't pretend to have familiar emotions.

How should she address her? Like all daughters, call her mother? Considering their upper-class background, a bit formal, address her as "mother" perhaps? "Your Lady Mother"? She couldn't say it because while she respected her, appreciated her, missed her, it was gratitude for bringing her into the world, not a mother-daughter bond.

So, Tachikawa Wakaba wasn't planning to abruptly push for Manranyama Souren to return to the Manranyama residence.

But later, the power of the memories engraved in her body proved to be much stronger than she had imagined.

The familiarity that arose at the first meeting, as if long-lost memories in the depths of her body were awakening, made Tachikawa Wakaba want to embrace Manranyama Souren tightly upon seeing her.

But she couldn't.

The shackles of worldly reason prevented her from breaking through immediately.

Yet, this affection imprinted in her body compelled her in the end to express her desire for Manranyama Souren to come back and stay.

Unfortunately, it failed.

"It's just that later, as we talked more and more happily, it just came out involuntarily like that." (Rikawa Wakaba) Rikawa Wakaba looked at Manranyama Uminari with a sense of grievance and said so.

This heartfelt response made even Manranyama Uminari unable to blame her too harshly. As an onlooker, he saw more clearly than anyone else that these two mother and daughter who had never met before were connected by an invisible bond.

"Alright… let's not make it a habit." (Manranyama Uminari) With a gentle shake of his head, Manranyama Uminari let this matter pass and picked up his chopsticks to start eating.

"What about… letting her come back?" (Rikawa Wakaba) Unexpectedly, Rikawa Wakaba, who had narrowly escaped, not only did not behave but also tried to take advantage.

However, Manranyama Uminari didn't seem surprised. Moreover, he had already prepared for this question. "Let's talk about it when you can call her by name, not just 'her'." (Manranyama Uminari) With a simple sentence, Rikawa Wakaba was left speechless.