A New Endorsement

"My son-in-law, huh..."

Shuya muttered to himself, reaching a small hand into the air as if trying to grab hold of something.

But he couldn't grab anything.

Shuya returned to his front door, opened it, and said listlessly, "I'm home..."

"Welcome home, Shu-chan."

"Look who finally decided to come home, son."

Shuya's irresponsible parents had already returned. Inoue Hikoo was cuddling Hanazawa Sakura as they watched TV and flaunted their affection.

Normally, Shuya would have made a snarky comment, but he just didn't have the energy right now.

"I'm going to take a bath."

Shuya trudged dejectedly into the bathroom.

"..."

Inoue Hikoo and Hanazawa Sakura looked at each other.

After a long while, Inoue Hikoo sighed. "Sakura-chan, what do you think the odds are that our son will succeed?"

"About 0.1 percent."

Hanazawa Sakura sounded worried too.

They both felt complicated.

They knew what Shuya was thinking, but they didn't say anything to him.

They just watched over him in silence.

"Sigh."

After his bath, Shuya slumped in the tub, dejected.

"My son-in-law..."

He leaned his head back and stared blankly at the ceiling, hazy with steam.

He murmured, "Sorry, Quintuplets. Your senior Shu-chan doesn't want to be your husband, but..."

—I want to be your dad.

Section 9: A New Endorsement Deal

There was nothing strange about Inoue Shuya falling for Rena.

She wasn't very old—only twenty-three.

When Shuya died in his previous life, he'd been only a few years older than her.

Rena was beautiful, had a perfect figure, and was elegant, generous, and kind. Being a schoolteacher was another point in her favor.

On top of that, after her husband died, she'd held the family together all on her own, giving her five daughters a warm home. She hadn't found herself another man and hardly ever interacted with strangers.

She didn't smoke, drink, or go out at night.

She was beautiful, sweet-voiced, and had a great figure. She worked hard and took responsibility. She loved her daughters and cared about her students. She never complained about the hardships of life, quietly raising her girls and refusing to give up in the face of a messed-up world.

From a man's point of view—

What an incredible woman.

Shuya didn't hide the fact that, at first, he'd fallen for Rena because of her looks.

Simply put, it was lust.

She was exactly his type.

But as they gradually spent more time together, Shuya truly fell deeply in love with this wonderful woman.

Actually, it would've been weird if he'd fallen for the Quintuplets.

As a normal young man, he should like a beautiful older woman. If he was infatuated with five-year-old girls instead, he could only be called a pervert.

Good grief, they were only five. They weren't even old enough to be called little girls.

Shuya had no designs on them. Of course, he thought they were adorable, but only in the way someone might like a kitten or a puppy.

He didn't have even the slightest improper thought about them.

He just wanted to be the one who took them in.

Honestly, for a woman like Rena, he'd be willing to take her and her children on.

Besides, the Quintuplets were adorable, so Shuya didn't think he'd be losing out.

But Shuya's age was a huge problem. His chances of taking them in were practically zero.

Still... who knew what the future held?

As long as the odds weren't zero, Shuya had the motivation to keep trying!

This was his dream, and he'd work hard for it. His daily effort to charm the Quintuplets was his roundabout strategy of winning them over with kindness.

Although Rena seemed to have misunderstood and thought he was interested in her daughters, completely twisting her impression of him... that didn't matter! First impressions could be overturned!

Shuya knew that Rena wouldn't accept another man unless the Quintuplets agreed, so he had to get along with them.

His top priority was winning Rena over. Nothing else mattered!

So what if he had to grovel?

Bring it on, damn it!

Shuya perked up.

He thought that he couldn't keep taking it easy. He had to work hard, or he wouldn't be able to support his wife and daughters!

Thinking of Itsuki's enormous appetite made Shuya feel a little uneasy.

The five-year-old Shu-chan clenched his little fists. Starting tomorrow, he'd have to give it his all and work hard to make a living again.

He abruptly stood up in the tub, water splashing loudly.

"No, I need to find a new job."

Shuya knew his parents had taken all his money. He had to find a new source of income to save the day.

He thought it over and soon came up with a plan.

Shuya hurriedly dried himself, changed into his pajamas, and pushed open the door.

"Ahem!"

"Ah!"

Inoue Hikoo and Hanazawa Sakura hastily pulled apart.

Shuya didn't ask what the lipstick mark on his father's face was about.

He turned to his irresponsible mother and asked, "Mom, didn't you ask me the day before yesterday if I wanted to do an endorsement?"

"Y-yes... A well-known children's clothing brand wants you to endorse them... What, are you interested?"

"Yeah. Go ahead and set it up."

"No problem! Leave it to Mommy!"

"Yay! Our son's landed another endorsement! Now we can make a second season of the anime! Long live season two!"

Hanazawa Sakura was thrilled!

Inoue Hikoo was thrilled!

Watching them, Inoue Shuya was thrilled too. He wanted to do them in for scheming to steal his future wife's dowry!

"If you steal my pocket money again, I'm calling the police! I'll tell them you're abusing an ani—no, a child!"

"Yikes, that's harsh!"

"Good grief!"

Inoue Hikoo and Hanazawa Sakura gasped.

This kid was terrifying!

"I'm going to bed!"

Shuya glared at them and hurried off to get some rest, so he'd be ready for work tomorrow.

Besides meeting with the company representative who wanted him to endorse their brand, he'd have to continue recording his lines.

He needed a good night's sleep to have enough energy to work.

Shuya couldn't afford to get sick and leave his wife and daughters suffering.

The night passed without incident.

Shuya went with his parents to the company's recording studio.

Inoue Hikoo's animation company was a little old, but its equipment was quite good. It had its own recording studio.

They were recording the second episode of Alien Baby Hikari-chan today, and Hanazawa Sakura had also arranged for the children's clothing company to come by that afternoon to sign the endorsement contract.

The contract could wait. Shuya would focus on recording first.

His parents were there this time too, so the whole family was present. There was no need to record separately.

The second episode of Alien Baby Hikari-chan picked up right where the previous one ended. Uesugi Yuichi discovered that the baby who had fallen from the sky had superpowers, and he was stunned.

He and the baby silently stared at each other in the room. The atmosphere was heavy.

Then Uesugi Yuichi discovered something horrifying: the light shining from the baby was fading...

"What?!"

Inoue Hikoo let out a comical groundhog-like shriek, utterly ruining Uesugi Yuichi's handsome, mature-man image and making him seem like a complete goofball.

A wardrobe fell on him, knocking Uesugi Yuichi out cold.

The baby slowly floated down. Shuya clapped along with the scene, letting out a clear, sweet laugh.

The highlight of the second episode was the heartwarming—and ridiculous—interaction between Uesugi Yuichi and the baby.

After discovering the baby had superpowers, Uesugi Yuichi briefly considered calling the police. But he felt indebted to the baby for saving him, so he gave up on that idea.

He decided to look after the baby himself until someone—an alien, perhaps?—came to collect him.

Since the baby could glow, he gave him the nickname "Hikari."

Inoue Hikoo had another reason for choosing the name "Hikari."

It meant that Hikari-chan would become a light in Uesugi Yuichi's life.

Taking care of a child was incredibly difficult for a rough-around-the-edges man with no childcare experience.

The internet wasn't developed enough in those days for him to look up much information, either.

So the second episode featured one comical childcare disaster after another.

The funniest part was in Part B.

Uesugi Yuichi was completely at his wit's end, so he had no choice but to head to a bookstore and buy some books on the subject.

To his surprise, while he was picking up a few books, he ran into one of his students, Yuzuki Sasaki.

Uesugi Yuichi immediately broke out in a cold sweat. He absolutely couldn't let her find out about Hikari-chan.

So Uesugi Yuichi started awkwardly changing the subject in every possible way, and the whole thing was utterly ridiculous.

Yuzuki Sasaki had already noticed that something was off about him, but she was considerate enough not to point it out. She just smiled and went along with Uesugi Yuichi's clumsy act.

Yuzuki Sasaki mistakenly thought he was buying dirty books.

She made an excuse to leave, but actually went to watch him from a distance. She watched Uesugi Yuichi breathe a sigh of relief and take the books to the register.