"You… decline?"

Suzuka was a little stumped at this answer. It was like she never thought that such an answer could be possible.

Kuroha nodded as if it was a matter of course.

"To be clear I don't mind fighting you. But… See. My father always told me to never sign a contract without understanding what I am signing for. You play the mysterious by giving weird conditions. But the problem is. If I really want that information. I just have to insist a little with Momo and I am sure that she will tell me. So why should I take a risk here?"

Suzuka wanted to offer a rebuttal. But she found that she had none. After all, he was right. Who would take a bet with unknown risk when you had a far safer option? Finally, resigned she sighed and said.

"*Sigh* You win. Sit. I will talk. But this won't change the fact that we will have to fight together later."

Kuroha nodded and simply seated on his butt. He could take the seiza position. But why kill your knees when you had better options? Suzuka though seated properly,

"*Ahem* So, the Yaoyorozu is a very old family. This family managed to grow to its current level thanks to different rules and what you might call selective breeding."

She sighed,

"The first rule is about successors. It doesn't matter how many children the members of the main family have. Each of their children must have a difference of four years in age. The moment a child with a quirk related to transmutation is born, the couples must not have any children. All the children born with a transmutation quirk will enter a competition once they reach a certain age and the winner becomes the head."

Her eyes were full of admiration,

"While it's a little harsh that only children with transmutation quirks can become heads, the fact that they must compete makes it so that each head is someone full of wits and talents. Wastrels and the like are not accepted in the family. In this generation, my master was directly announced as the next head simply because her quirk was the strongest transmutation quirk that ever appeared in the family. If she was a man she would have been obligated to get tens of wife in order to make more progeny."

She coughed before continuing,

"The second rule is about outsiders. Marriage with outsiders is encouraged. But...Only those with rares and useful quirks. The family doesn't care about pure power, but a rarity. Such quirks are essential so that even those who aren't born with transmutation quirks can get a useful quirk for the family and make our genetic pool richer and more diverse. The Yaoyorozu is a patriarchal family. If the one who wins the competition is a woman, it's her husband who will be considered the head officially. As such the future husband must be accepted by the current head as well as the council of elders."

After that, she began to blush. Then she lowered her head as she lifted a third finger.

"The third rule is about retainers. The hiragi family is a family close to the Yaoyorozu since a very long time. One simple reason is blood. Most members of the hiragi family have a blood relationship with The Yaoyorozu."

She began to fidget a little at this part,

"The reason for this is that the head be it from the Yaoyorozu or an outsider. Must always impregnate a member of the hiragi family. The personal maid. By doing so, there will always be a blood relationship tying the Hiragi to the main house."

She sighed as if a great weight was lifted from her shoulders. She never thought she would tell something so embarrassing one day. Well, she did, but she didn't think it would be under such a situation,

Kuroha, on the other hand, was thinking about all those information, finally, he sighed and asked,

"I have a question. I hope you can answer."

"Go on."

"One, If I don't get the father and elders approval then my relationship with Momo will be void? Even though we already did it?"

"The family doesn't care about things such as virginity. Only blood matters. As long as she isn't pregnant, then it doesn't matter how much partner she has before she gets married. That's the true reason why she was given pills so soon."

Kuroha tilted his head,

"I thought that as a patriarchal family it would be a little stricter."

"This only applies if the woman is of our blood. Woman outsiders need to be completely pure."

Kuroha sighed, before saying,

"Noble families are really weird. Anyway. About the third rule. I guess that since you're the personal maid then this falls on you?"

"...Yes…"

"Then I have two questions. Firstly, what do you think? Don't you want to fall in love?"

Suzuka lowered her head a short while before finally rising it, and said with a simple but clear voice.

"Of course I want to fall in love. But what is love? Do you know how many divorces happen every day? In some countries, the divorce rate is higher than 50% for couples less than five years old. Compared to that, all those who followed our traditions never had a problem. The head had absolutely no right to mistreat the personal maid since doing so would be an insult to the Hiragi family. Between the so-called love and a stable and happy family, my choice is easy. As such, I have never hated this tradition. Though I find it shameless."

Kuroha nodded and waited for her to continues,

"Also. That third rule has a condition. THE CHOICE. The personal maid is given the power to choose. If she doesn't like the future head, then she can leave her position of personal maid. This position will be taken by someone else. This morning, Mistress gave me the choice."

"I guess, this choice is related to your desire to fight me?"

"Exactly. While I do not love you. I do not find you repulsive either. What more, your quirk is both rare and powerful, making it so my child would have great genes without a doubt. But, this isn't enough. The father of my child must be able to protect us. Only by beating me will I accept you."

Kuroha scratched his head with an awkward face,

"But...What if I don't want to do it with you?"

The scene fell in a very strange silence.

Suzuka never felt so humiliated in her life.

"I WILL…"

"WAIT!!!"

She was about to explode when Kuroha stopped her with a word

"Seat down and listen to me."

She had to give her all to keep her cool. She knew that she was on the verge of losing it. Finally, she took a deep breath and took back her seiza position,

"Speak. But I swear that if you insult my honor again I will kill you before killing myself."

Kuroha winced a little at those words, he knew that his tongue got the better of him since he didn't want to further anger her, he began to explain

"You see...Your explanations were clear and direct. You even talked about THE choice. In which you're given a choice to accept the seed of the head. But...Until now...You only talked about YOU, not ME. Why should I give MY seed to YOU? Get my meaning?"

Suzuka was stumped. After all, he was right. She only thought about her own situation. But never about him. Still, it was really a hit in her confidence. Kuroha saw that his words got through her,

"Look. You're a very beautiful woman, and I at least know you for many years even though we never spoke that much. But, this isn't enough for me to have a child with you. But I can also guess how much you would be humiliated if I rejected you. So let's do this. why not try to understand each other more?"

As he said that, he stretched his right hand for a handshake. Suzuka raised her head and looked carefully at the young man in front of her. For the first time, she thought that him becoming the father of her child wouldn't be so bad.

She smiled as she clasped her hand with his,

"I accept your proposition."

(Mistress. You really found a good man.)

----

After discussing, with Suzuka, Kuroha decided that asking her to stay with Momo wouldn't be a good choice. As such, he went back to her room and lay down with her. Their position was that of a spoon, with Kuroha carefully hugging her from behind. After giving her a kiss on her cheek, he closed his eyes and calmed his breath. Sleeping was impossible, but he could at least meditate a little.

---

The next morning, Momo slowly woke up. Then she was startled when she saw hands surrounding her. Thankfully, it didn't take long for her to blush as she began to remember everything that happened yesterday. The numb pain between her legs was enough of a reminder.

"You're awake?"

Kuroha, who felt the change of the rhythm of her heartbeats, opened his eyes and asked.

"Y-YES!"

Momo stuttered, before covering her face as she blushed at how embarrassing her reaction was.

Kuroha on the other hand simply chuckled before getting up. He didn't have things belonging to him here and it was time for him to go prepare for school. After giving a last kiss on the cheek, making her even redder, Kuroha simply said,

"See you at school."

Before vanishing.

Momo, now alone couldn't help but let a scream in her pillow as the giddy feeling in her chest nearly exploded,

(I did it! I finally did it!)

She was so happy she felt like she would cry. Eight years. Eight years of chasing after him and now she finally did it and the best? She won against that double-faced bitch!!!!!!!

As the heiress of the Yaoyorozu family, Momo never envied anyone. After all, with just a snap of her fingers, she could get everything she wished for. The only things she never got was Kuroha attention and love. But now, for the first time, she finally surpassed her.

(No, I must calm myself. There's no way that crazy bitch would give up even if she knew about my relationship with Kuroha. If I become complacent because of one victory I might lose the war.)

Momo knew her place. You could say that she used the absence of Himiko to act. In short, it was a sneak attack, followed by a blitzkrieg. In a frontal attack, her chances of winning were slim.

As such, she only had one way. She had to entice him even more. Not just with her body. She had to conquer everything. She wanted to be the one he came to when he was tired. She wanted to be the one who would shoulder all his pain. She wanted to know everything about him.

(Should I simply send someone to kill Himiko?)

This thought simply passed in her head but was banished almost instantly. Doing so would simply hurt Kuroha and if he ever found that it was her, then she would lose everything.

What Momo didn't pay attention to, was how she didn't banish the thought of ordering the death of Himiko because it was bad but simply because doing so would hurt Kuroha.

---

Meanwhile, Kuroha was taking a shower. He was thinking about a very serious problem. Tonight he had to meet Himiko. But, well, how would she react once she learned of what he did?

(Sigh!!! Yesterday I seriously wasn't thinking straight.)

One could say that Momo really attacked in the most opportune moment. Still, Kuroha didn't plan to hide from her.

It was stupid. If he tried to do so, he was sure that one day, by some kind of freak accident, she would learn of it, and then, their relationship would never be the same again. At least, by confessing directly, he could lessen the impact.

"Well, complaining is useless. What is done is done. Now, I just have to face the consequences of my own actions."