Mari gathered the purple-wrapped bento boxes with a flourish, her "Shiny" energy returning in full force. She looked over at Dia and Yoshiko, gesturing toward the door of the Takami Ryokan.
"Dia-chan, Yoshiko-chan! Let's head out!" Mari chirped. "We have seven hungry little mouths waiting for their very first 'Papa-made' breakfast. We can't let it get cold!"
Yoshiko adjusted her "dark" bundle. "Indeed! The little demons shall feast upon the white mana of the abyss! Farewell, Marshmallow-Mortals!"
As the three Aqours mothers climbed into Mari's sleek, high-end Italian sports car, the atmosphere shifted. Mari shifted into gear and began the winding drive along the Uchiura coast. The silence lasted only until they cleared the first tunnel.
Dia, sitting in the passenger seat with her hands folded neatly over her lap, turned her sharp, calculating gaze toward Mari.
"Mari," Dia said, her voice dropping the playful tone. "Be honest with me. What is your true purpose for telling Agung to buy the former Uranohoshi building? You know as well as I do that he could have bought any luxury hotel in Shizuoka with that card."
Mari kept her eyes on the road, a soft, wistful smile playing on her lips. For a moment, the "Director" persona faded, replaced by the girl who had fought so hard to save that school years ago.
"Oh, Dia-chan... you always see right through me," Mari murmured. "It's simple, really. That school is where our bond was forged. It's where we learned that even when things seem impossible, if you have your family—your 'Nine'—you can do anything."
She gripped the steering wheel a little tighter.
"Agung is back, but he's... different. He's a 'Marshmallow' with magic and a quadrillion dollars, but he's still a man trying to find his place in a family that grew up without him. If he lives in some cold, modern villa, he's just a rich man in a big house."
Mari glanced at Dia, her eyes shining.
"But if he rebuilds **Uranohoshi**? He's rebuilding our home. He's turning a place that 'closed' into a place that is 'open' forever. I want our children to grow up in the same halls where we laughed and cried. I want him to breathe life back into the place where our dreams started. Plus..."
She let out a small, mischievous giggle.
"It's the one place in the world that can contain nineteen wives and fourteen children without the neighbors calling the police every time Kasu-kasu starts screaming about being 'cute'."
Dia sighed, but a rare, genuine smile touched her lips. "I should have known. You're not just selling him a building; you're selling him the responsibility of our legacy. It is... a very 'Mari' way of doing things."
"And the best part?" Mari winked. "With his magic, he might actually fix that leaky roof in the third-floor hallway that the Ohara budget never could!"