When Leo was arriving back at the apartment, he caught the twins being led out by Miyako as she locked the door. One thing led to another and he ended up tagging along on whatever they were doing. Which consequently was cheering Ai on during her performance.

"Ehhh..." Leo exhaled as he took in the scenery. A booth was set up displaying B-Komachi's merch proudly atop a table. A few other posters were hung up on the walls with Ai being the proud centerpiece.

"Papa!" Ruby got Leo's attention as she pointed excitedly at the merch booth. "Buy Mama's merch!" she instructed with enthusiasm.

Leo stared at his adorable daughter for a few seconds, before Ruby pulled out her somewhat improved puppy eyes. They still needed work, but considering he offered no advice for improvement, she still managed to make them work.

"Sure," Leo said with a smirk, deciding to play along, before taking off his suit jacket and throwing it at Miyako. "Hold this."

Miyako's eyebrow twitched as the suit jacket fell on top of her, obscuring her view. As if being a babysitter wasn't enough, now she was an unpaid nanny too.

Leo glanced at the B-Komachi's various merch. From shirts to fans to hats, all of it was proudly displayed for purchase.

Undoing his tie, Leo maintained an uncomfortable eye contact with the sales clerk even as he pointed to the merch he wanted. The clerk nervously flinched as Leo reached for his wallet to pay for everything.

Returning to Miyako and the twins, they left him behind as they walked inside, with the tickets. Standing around awkwardly, Leo eventually followed suit unimpeded as security stepped aside with a firm glare.

Clumsily, Leo began putting on the merch he just purchased, "accidentally" bumping into excited concert attendees as he moved further into the crowd, looking absolutely dripped out in B-Komachi merch, with Ai's silhouette proudly displayed on his chest and the groups name on the hat atop his head.

While the merch wasn't bad by any standards, Leo couldn't help but notice that most of it lacked the main selling point—Ai herself.

In the sea of fans eagerly waiting to see B-Komachi perform, Leo pushed his way through, scanning the crowd for Miyako and the twins amidst the sea of enthusiastic otakus.

Finally spotting Miyako with the twins, Leo immediately noticed his jacket stuffed into the bottom of the double baby carriage, with one sleeve dragging on the ground.

"Alright then," Leo muttered, slightly annoyed, as he pushed through the crowd.

Pushing a few more people out of the way, Miyako was startled when she saw Leo crouch to pick up his dragging jacket.

"This is baby cashmere you know," Leo commented folding his jacket neatly. "It's not the easiest thing to come by."

However, Miyako seemed more focused on the odd look of the merch he was wearing. Ai's vibrant silhouette on his chest didn't quite match the permanent glare in his eyes. In fact, nothing about B-Komachi's merch suited him, making him look entirely out of place compared to the enthusiastic otakus who seemed perfectly in sync with their attire.

"Papa!" Ruby called out trying to look back to where Leo was at.

"What's up?" Leo asked crouching to Ruby's level on the carriage.

"Wow!" Ruby exclaimed as she looked at the B-Komachi merch, but her enthusiasm waned when she saw her father's face. She couldn't help but cringe. "You look great," she said, trying to sound enthusiastic but failing to hide her true feelings.

Leo's face had a unique quality that could easily appear threatening with just a glance, and given the current environment, he stood out like a sore thumb. It was a statement none of the attendees ever expected to say out of fear.

"I know," Leo said monotonously. "It goes well with my eyes, don't you think?"

He knew damn well that the merch didn't suit him at all, but it seemed his kids didn't have the heart to tell him. Miyako, on the other hand, couldn't hide her skepticism as she wore her emotions on her sleeve, looking at Leo with mild disgust.

As Miyako was about to voice her opinion, Leo suddenly spoke up, looking at one of the attendees and pointing at him with a camera.

"Take my picture, and it's over for you," Leo said, his voice devoid of emotion, yet his mere glance sent chills down the attendee's spine.

"I'm sorry," the attendee muttered, quickly averting his gaze to the ground.

Before the awkward tension could build any further, the surrounding crowd erupted into cheers as B-Komachi finally made their appearance. On stage, Ai took the center, commanding everyone's attention. Her six-pointed star eyes glowed prominently as she started performing.

Ai's performance was undeniably tantalizing, but Leo and the twins could sense a subtle gloom hiding beneath the surface. Despite her captivating smile that won over hearts effortlessly, they could see the strain and pressure she carried—the weight of perfection designed to please everyone.

In all aspects, Ai was the epitome of a perfect idol, and she only needed a bigger stage to showcase her talent to the world. With Leo now involving his cousin, it seemed like it was only a matter of time before she reached new heights.

But for now, those thoughts could wait. The only thing that mattered at that moment was etched into memory Leo's first experience of witnessing Ai's mesmerizing performance.

Ai's attention was firmly focused on her performance, but unexpectedly, her gaze, along with the other idol members, was drawn to a pair of twins twirling glow sticks and performing Wotagei with flawless precision. With sharp movements, they "Goo goo!" and "Gaa gaa'd!" in perfect sync with the music.

"What's with those babies?! They're doing the full idol fan dance!" One bystander exclaimed in amazement.

In a matter of moments, the twins became the center of attention as people around them stared in awe. The babies froze momentarily, not expecting such a reaction. Cameras started clicking, except for one person, who was too scared to take a picture.

For Ai, this unexpected sight brought an explosion of excitement, causing her usual perfect composure to break. A genuinely joyous smile took over her face as she gawked at her babies, with one thought filling her mind.

"My babies are so cute!"

With joy in her eyes, she carefully observed every detail of their performance, but amidst her delight, she also noticed Leo, watching them with a seemingly blank expression. However, she soon spotted a small smile forming on his lips. Witnessing Leo's quiet support filled her heart with even more ecstasy. Her kids and her fiance had come to watch her perform. The overwhelming happiness had her on cloud nine.

Back in the apartment, Ai and Ichigo huddled around Miyako's computer, their attention fixated on a news headline featuring Ruby and Aqua holding glowsticks in a perfect freeze frame.

Ichigo studied the picture of the twins intently, and on the side, he spotted a man wearing B-Komachi merch, though his head was just out of the shot. In the background, there was a woman with hair similar to Miyako's.

"Hold on," Ichigo muttered, turning to look behind him.

In the background, Leo sat lazily, keeping an eye on the twins as they tried to sneak a peek at Miyako's computer. Ichigo's eyes narrowed as he noticed the shirt Leo was wearing over a dress shirt—it was the same shirt he saw in the picture.

"You!" Ichigo exclaimed, pointing at Leo, momentarily gaining everyone's attention except Leo, who kept his focus on the twins. "You were there! Why didn't you stop them?!"

Leo turned to Ichigo, appearing unfazed. "What?"

"The whole point was to keep the fact that Ai has twins hidden!" Ichigo stressed. "That means stopping them from drawing attention to themselves!"

Despite Ichigo's frustration, Leo seemed unfazed and simply shrugged before giving him a thumbs-up. "It'll be fine."

Ichigo's eyebrow twitched at Leo's nonchalant attitude.

While Ichigo proceeded to berate Leo for his carelessness, Miyako slyly made her way out of the room. She had been there too, but her husband didn't need to know that.

Meanwhile, Ai giggled as she watched the one-sided exchange before returning her focus to the computer. Scrolling down, she discovered comments left by people, both about the babies and about herself. She browsed through the various compliments praising her smile.

"I see. So this is good, huh?" Ai muttered as smiled, mimicking the smile in the photo. "Memorized it~!"

April 10th, 1988

Leo landed in Germany.

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