This was, without a doubt, the most difficult challenge Satoru had ever faced in his entire existence. It was not a special-level curse, nor an enemy imbued with cursed energy. It was something even more fearsome: a baby. Your baby.

“Why are you crying?” he murmured, in a muffled and almost trembling plea, as he paced from one side of the small apartment to the other. The child cried as if the world were collapsing. Satoru, in a mixture of distress and confusion, shook the bottle with a tortured expression, trying to discern whether the contents had reached the ideal texture. Was it too thick? Or, perhaps, too watery? How could he, a sorcerer accustomed to dealing with invisible horrors, decipher the enigmas of an infant formula?

You were young — dangerously young — and completely unprepared for the complex developments that would come with the arrival of a child. Two foolish hearts, intoxicated by an incandescent passion, driven by reckless impulses, dove headfirst into something much greater than they could understand. And yet, despite their folly, they gave themselves completely to it. Body and soul.

If it weren't for the thoughtless choices of both, perhaps Satoru wouldn't be there, struggling with bottles and diapers at three in the morning. He, always so clumsy in everything that escaped the battlefield, had set up an impeccable little room, delicately decorated, for the baby who would change his life. Anyone who saw him holding that child in his arms would find the scene strange. He, who had never let himself be tied down to anyone, who had always been a symbol of freedom and ephemerality, now held in his arms the fruit of a single thoughtless night — a night marked more by irresponsibility than by affection. But you knew that. And so did he.

You both knew.

Your youth was obvious, visible in your insecure looks and clumsy gestures. Still, there was a certain silent relief in the fact that Satoru had financial stability, a comfort that softened the hardships of the beginning of motherhood and fatherhood. It was the only predictable and reassuring aspect in a new and frightening world. Raising a child would never be an easy task — especially for two young people in the making, learning the hard way what responsibility meant.

The baby finally sucked the entire contents of the bottle, leaving traces running down the corners of his mouth and dirtying his recently changed clothes.

“Damn… I’m going to have to change everything again,” Satoru grumbled, unable to contain the tiredness that was seeping under his eyes.

He had barely finished high school. He was still practically a kid, dealing with tests, missions, curses — and now, a new and fragile life that depended entirely on him. His schedule was insane. The routine, relentless. It was as if the world was asking everything of him at the same time. And in the midst of the chaos, there he was: a new father.