“Umm… There’s something I want to ask…”
“Yes? If you don’t mind me answering, I’ll answer any of your questions.”
We arrived home just before the clock hit 19:00. I had already bought some food on my way home in the market so I didn’t need to prepare anything for dinner today. I quickly voiced the thing I was curious about since I had time to spare.
I asked Fer-san, who was sitting next to me in the living room. Why Fer-san? It was simply because he gave me the vibe of a teacher the most out of all of them.
“Erm… It’s about Marcel-san from before… He just found out about his pregnancy but he said the due date should be in December, right? Just how long is the gestation period?”
“Let me see… About 6 months after you used iam fruit. Is it different in your previous world, Ren-kun?”
Fer-san tilted his head to the side as he asked. His silky hair, which was not tied up as usual, was flowing beautifully according to his motion.
Ah, I knew it… There’s so many things I still don’t know about.
“Yes. Well I didn’t really pay attention to anything related to pregnancy before but if I’m not wrong, the gestation period is more or less 10 months.”
“Oh? That’s quite long, huh.”
“It must be difficult if it’s that long~”
I only knew the general knowledge about the gestation period. It’d be strange for a male college student to know about pregnancy in detail if they weren’t aiming to be a doctor after all. Surely a lot of people only had the same degree of knowledge as I was. Sig-san and Chris-san who were sitting on the rug looked surprised at the difference in the common sense between here and there too.
“And then… You know…. Since only men and women can have children together, so I’m wondering how it works exactly between…. Men…”
Aaaaahh…. Somehow I feel so embarrassed! Why do I still have to take sex education at my age?!
“Ah now that you’ve said it… First, I will give you a brief explanation about iam fruits. Ren-kun, what do you actually know about iam?”
“Errr… Iam is managed and cultivated by the church and if married couples take the fruit and split it between themselves, they can get pregnant. Even in the case of people in polymarous relationship, one iam fruit is enough to induce pregnancy as long as they pick it together and the fruit effect last for a week. Whether you actually conceive or not, it all depends on your luck. I think that’s about everything I know.”
Suddenly, Fer-san shifted his body so now he was facing me. He looked at me directly in my eyes as he asked me a question. I told him all the things I remembered from my conversation with Malik-san.
“I see. You’re right but let us delve even further today.”
“Yes. I’ll be in your care, Fer-san.”
Fer-san began to speak with a serious expression on his face, making him look like a teacher. Somehow I felt like I was being weirdly transported into a classroom with Fer-san as my teacher.
“If you have any question in the middle of my explanation, please do not hesitate to ask it right away. First of all, iam is a bicoloured fruit about the size of a fist and the two colours are beautifully and vertically divided right on the center.”
“Bicoloured?”
Fer-san used his own hand to describe the size of the fruit but, bicoloured?
“Yes. There are two colours, dark and light. The colour varies between fruits but they always come in dark and light combinations. The light part is used by the one who will carry the child inside their body and the dark part is used by the one who will inseminate the other. You will be able to get pregnant 24 hours after consuming the fruit.”
“Ooh… And how do men carry the child inside their body? We don’t have the necessary organs, do we?”
Ooh… So in our case, I’d be the one who eats the light part, right? But how can I get pregnant when I don’t have a womb? Or maybe in Alsar, men have wombs too? But if that’s the case, I won’t be able to get pregnant then.
“That’s right we don’t. Usually we don’t have it but after we eat the light part, we will have a place to raise the baby within the place where the one who eats the dark part inserts their bodily fluid at. The conception rate is approximately 20%.”
“So I’ll have a temporary womb…”
Ah, I knew it. They don’t have a womb either. If the fruit is capable of creating an organ like that, that means I can really give birth myself… And also ‘bodily fluid’ is basically sperm, right? Basically they need to come inside when we make love.
“Also, this point is irrelevant for us but a woman who eats the dark counterpart will be able to have something inserted into the one who eats the light counterpart. Or maybe I should say a certain part of a woman becomes bigger?”
“O-Ooh….”
I think I didn’t need to listen to that part of the information. I wasn’t into GL stuff much… Well I guess that meant both gay and lesbian couple can have children on their own.
“Ah also for some reason, you can’t make a child if you don’t eat from the same fruit. Even if they eat the white part and the other eat the dark part, if they didn’t eat from the same fruit, they wouldn’t be able to make an offspring. We’re still not sure why but you definitely need to eat from the same fruit otherwise it won’t work.”
“I see… Also, you can get pregnant after 24 hours, right? So that means… During that period… Your body will change, right? Like organogenesis? I’m not really sure how to describe it but… Will there be any pain during that period?”
I see so it has to be the same fruit no matter what. Since the distribution of the fruit is controlled by the church, that means you can’t do the so-called ‘claim for alimony when the child isn’t actually yours’. I also need to ask if the process is painful or not because if I need to endure the pain everytime I eat the fruit, I don’t think I can stand it.
“No. I never heard of someone feeling pain during it. Some people may feel sluggish or have this weird itchy sensation but never to the extent of pain. Also after you eat iam once, you need to wait for at least a month before your next session. If you eat another fruit before that, you won’t be able to get pregnant.”
“I see…”
At first I thought I wouldn’t be able to do it more than once if the process would be painful but since there was no pain involved, I think I could do it no matter how many times it takes for me to conceive. But still, I needed to prepare my resolve first before I used iam fruit.
The conception rate was about 20% and you only had one week of fertile time. If I was being nonchalant about it, I’d end up like Marcel-san who needed five years before he finally conceived. My prime age would be long overdue by then…
“Oh! That’s right!~ Between heterosexual couple, the male can be the one who get pregnant too, you know~ Even though it rarely happens~”
“Oh… Right. Heterosexual couple can’t get pregnant without iam either. I see. So you could get pregnant according to the part of the fruit you eat…”
Chris-san suddenly added. In that case, the man would be the mother and the woman would be the father? Or not? Won’t it be difficult to choose what to call in that kind of scenario?
“Well there are some people who don’t want to use iam because they’re afraid of their body changing. Ren-kun, after hearing about all of this, what do you think about having a baby? Does it deter you from having a baby?”
“No. As of now, I don’t have any problem with it.”
I see, so there’s people like that here.
Since they couldn’t get pregnant without using iam, that meant they didn’t want any children then. The common knowledge in this world was different from what I used to know so I was a bit perplexed but I think I could somehow accept it.
“Also… Is there anything that changes during pregnancy?”
“In the early stage, you might feel unwell and sluggish but those symptoms will gradually lessen. ThoughI’ve heard of some rare cases where the symptoms continued on until the delivery date… Also since you’re growing a life in your body, you will naturally feel hungrier and in the case of men, no matter how much you eat, your body will stop excreting. They said it’s because the energy required to create an organ out of nothing to nurture a life is too enormous. In many cases, the change in physical condition and the lack of excreting are the telltale of pregnancy and…. Having sexual intercourse during pregnancy is very recommended since the semen from the partner who ate the dark part of the fruit is good for the baby’s development.”
“Wha-?!”
I had thought if not soon, I’d get pregnant in due time anyway so I should hear everything I needed to know about pregnancy while the opportunity was coming my way but….
Sexual intercourse is recommended?! What? The semen is a good nourishment for the baby?! Iam fruit is truly… In a lot of sense…
“You’re also going to produce milk after the delivery~”
“I already expected that… I guess I was right…”
I knew that… I knew that already but I didn’t want to acknowledge it. I guess it was good that I met with Marcel-san today since I was going to be married in two months and I would need to start thinking about children by that time. In the meantime, I might also change my mind when I finally got to hold Marcel-san’s baby for real.
ーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーー
“I’m home.”
“Welcome home. You’re home early, huh?”
Malik-san came home while I was in the middle of hearing information about various stuff from Fer-san. I glanced at the clock in the living room. It was 20.30. He was home 30 minutes earlier than the time he had told me before.
“I immediately left as soon as I got the paperwork done. You guys must be hungry, right? Let’s get something to eat first.”
“Ah, I’m sorry… I’m so tired today so I only bought side dishes from the market.”
“You’re always cooking for me so buying food once in a while is okay, you know? You must be exhausted after dealing with Judo. I’m going to put my stuff away.”
I apologized to Malik-san, who regarded the other three nonchalantly, as if it was a matter of course for them to be here. I had bought some side dishes because I was too tired to cook today.
Originally, I wanted to welcome Malik-san home with a home made meal but I hadn’t gotten the time to replenish the meal in my magic bag so as of now, the leftover food in my magic bag wouldn’t be enough for all of us…
But still, I should’ve cooked something after all… I felt a little remorseful as Malik-san patted my head as usual before he headed to his room to put his bag away.
“Okay! Today we’re celebrating Ren’s victory!”
While Malik-san went to his room to put his bag, I was lining up the side dishes I had bought in the market on the dining table. We started eating after Malik-san returned to the living room.
I had bought quiche with some kind of meat and spinach in it, whole roasted meat with the bone still intact and plenty of sauce smeared over it and fried potato with cheese. I had bought various kinds of side dishes but all of them were steadily disappearing into their stomach.
“It’s not that big of a deal though, Malik-san.”
“Ah, a win is still a win. I think later on, he’s going to come follow you around. When that time comes, you guys better protect Ren.”
“Of course~”
Jude-san was going to follow me around , huh….. He was certainly very obsessed with Altair and Spica. As soon as we reached home, Altair and Spica had been sleeping on a makeshift bed that I had prepared with a bunch of blankets in the corner of the room.
Ah… I feel healed….
“Now that Malik-san is back, we will return to our house.”
“Ah, right. Ren, see you tomorrow I guess?”
“Yes. I will see you guys off up to the foyer.”
We had been taking a small break after dinner when the three of them announced they were going to return home. I got up so I could walk together with them up to the foyer.
“See you. Muah…”
“Yes. Please be careful on your way back.”
After exchanging light kisses with the three of them, I waved them off. These days, the three of them always waited by my side until Malik-san returned home before they also returned to their house. I felt slightly sad, knowing my daily life would soon change.
“Umm… There’s something I want to ask…”
“Yes? If you don’t mind me answering, I’ll answer any of your questions.”
We arrived home just before the clock hit 19:00. I had already bought some food on my way home in the market so I didn’t need to prepare anything for dinner today. I quickly voiced the thing I was curious about since I had time to spare.
I asked Fer-san, who was sitting next to me in the living room. Why Fer-san? It was simply because he gave me the vibe of a teacher the most out of all of them.
“Erm… It’s about Marcel-san from before… He just found out about his pregnancy but he said the due date should be in December, right? Just how long is the gestation period?”
“Let me see… About 6 months after you used iam fruit. Is it different in your previous world, Ren-kun?”
Fer-san tilted his head to the side as he asked. His silky hair, which was not tied up as usual, was flowing beautifully according to his motion.
Ah, I knew it… There’s so many things I still don’t know about.
“Yes. Well I didn’t really pay attention to anything related to pregnancy before but if I’m not wrong, the gestation period is more or less 10 months.”
“Oh? That’s quite long, huh.”
“It must be difficult if it’s that long~”
I only knew the general knowledge about the gestation period. It’d be strange for a male college student to know about pregnancy in detail if they weren’t aiming to be a doctor after all. Surely a lot of people only had the same degree of knowledge as I was. Sig-san and Chris-san who were sitting on the rug looked surprised at the difference in the common sense between here and there too.
“And then… You know…. Since only men and women can have children together, so I’m wondering how it works exactly between…. Men…”
Aaaaahh…. Somehow I feel so embarrassed! Why do I still have to take sex education at my age?!
“Ah now that you’ve said it… First, I will give you a brief explanation about iam fruits. Ren-kun, what do you actually know about iam?”
“Errr… Iam is managed and cultivated by the church and if married couples take the fruit and split it between themselves, they can get pregnant. Even in the case of people in polymarous relationship, one iam fruit is enough to induce pregnancy as long as they pick it together and the fruit effect last for a week. Whether you actually conceive or not, it all depends on your luck. I think that’s about everything I know.”
Suddenly, Fer-san shifted his body so now he was facing me. He looked at me directly in my eyes as he asked me a question. I told him all the things I remembered from my conversation with Malik-san.
“I see. You’re right but let us delve even further today.”
“Yes. I’ll be in your care, Fer-san.”
Fer-san began to speak with a serious expression on his face, making him look like a teacher. Somehow I felt like I was being weirdly transported into a classroom with Fer-san as my teacher.
“If you have any question in the middle of my explanation, please do not hesitate to ask it right away. First of all, iam is a bicoloured fruit about the size of a fist and the two colours are beautifully and vertically divided right on the center.”
“Bicoloured?”
Fer-san used his own hand to describe the size of the fruit but, bicoloured?
“Yes. There are two colours, dark and light. The colour varies between fruits but they always come in dark and light combinations. The light part is used by the one who will carry the child inside their body and the dark part is used by the one who will inseminate the other. You will be able to get pregnant 24 hours after consuming the fruit.”
“Ooh… And how do men carry the child inside their body? We don’t have the necessary organs, do we?”
Ooh… So in our case, I’d be the one who eats the light part, right? But how can I get pregnant when I don’t have a womb? Or maybe in Alsar, men have wombs too? But if that’s the case, I won’t be able to get pregnant then.
“That’s right we don’t. Usually we don’t have it but after we eat the light part, we will have a place to raise the baby within the place where the one who eats the dark part inserts their bodily fluid at. The conception rate is approximately 20%.”
“So I’ll have a temporary womb…”
Ah, I knew it. They don’t have a womb either. If the fruit is capable of creating an organ like that, that means I can really give birth myself… And also ‘bodily fluid’ is basically sperm, right? Basically they need to come inside when we make love.
“Also, this point is irrelevant for us but a woman who eats the dark counterpart will be able to have something inserted into the one who eats the light counterpart. Or maybe I should say a certain part of a woman becomes bigger?”
“O-Ooh….”
I think I didn’t need to listen to that part of the information. I wasn’t into GL stuff much… Well I guess that meant both gay and lesbian couple can have children on their own.
“Ah also for some reason, you can’t make a child if you don’t eat from the same fruit. Even if they eat the white part and the other eat the dark part, if they didn’t eat from the same fruit, they wouldn’t be able to make an offspring. We’re still not sure why but you definitely need to eat from the same fruit otherwise it won’t work.”
“I see… Also, you can get pregnant after 24 hours, right? So that means… During that period… Your body will change, right? Like organogenesis? I’m not really sure how to describe it but… Will there be any pain during that period?”
I see so it has to be the same fruit no matter what. Since the distribution of the fruit is controlled by the church, that means you can’t do the so-called ‘claim for alimony when the child isn’t actually yours’. I also need to ask if the process is painful or not because if I need to endure the pain everytime I eat the fruit, I don’t think I can stand it.
“No. I never heard of someone feeling pain during it. Some people may feel sluggish or have this weird itchy sensation but never to the extent of pain. Also after you eat iam once, you need to wait for at least a month before your next session. If you eat another fruit before that, you won’t be able to get pregnant.”
“I see…”
At first I thought I wouldn’t be able to do it more than once if the process would be painful but since there was no pain involved, I think I could do it no matter how many times it takes for me to conceive. But still, I needed to prepare my resolve first before I used iam fruit.
The conception rate was about 20% and you only had one week of fertile time. If I was being nonchalant about it, I’d end up like Marcel-san who needed five years before he finally conceived. My prime age would be long overdue by then…
“Oh! That’s right!~ Between heterosexual couple, the male can be the one who get pregnant too, you know~ Even though it rarely happens~”
“Oh… Right. Heterosexual couple can’t get pregnant without iam either. I see. So you could get pregnant according to the part of the fruit you eat…”
Chris-san suddenly added. In that case, the man would be the mother and the woman would be the father? Or not? Won’t it be difficult to choose what to call in that kind of scenario?
“Well there are some people who don’t want to use iam because they’re afraid of their body changing. Ren-kun, after hearing about all of this, what do you think about having a baby? Does it deter you from having a baby?”
“No. As of now, I don’t have any problem with it.”
I see, so there’s people like that here.
Since they couldn’t get pregnant without using iam, that meant they didn’t want any children then. The common knowledge in this world was different from what I used to know so I was a bit perplexed but I think I could somehow accept it.
“Also… Is there anything that changes during pregnancy?”
“In the early stage, you might feel unwell and sluggish but those symptoms will gradually lessen. ThoughI’ve heard of some rare cases where the symptoms continued on until the delivery date… Also since you’re growing a life in your body, you will naturally feel hungrier and in the case of men, no matter how much you eat, your body will stop excreting. They said it’s because the energy required to create an organ out of nothing to nurture a life is too enormous. In many cases, the change in physical condition and the lack of excreting are the telltale of pregnancy and…. Having sexual intercourse during pregnancy is very recommended since the semen from the partner who ate the dark part of the fruit is good for the baby’s development.”
“Wha-?!”
I had thought if not soon, I’d get pregnant in due time anyway so I should hear everything I needed to know about pregnancy while the opportunity was coming my way but….
Sexual intercourse is recommended?! What? The semen is a good nourishment for the baby?! Iam fruit is truly… In a lot of sense…
“You’re also going to produce milk after the delivery~”
“I already expected that… I guess I was right…”
I knew that… I knew that already but I didn’t want to acknowledge it. I guess it was good that I met with Marcel-san today since I was going to be married in two months and I would need to start thinking about children by that time. In the meantime, I might also change my mind when I finally got to hold Marcel-san’s baby for real.
ーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーー
“I’m home.”
“Welcome home. You’re home early, huh?”
Malik-san came home while I was in the middle of hearing information about various stuff from Fer-san. I glanced at the clock in the living room. It was 20.30. He was home 30 minutes earlier than the time he had told me before.
“I immediately left as soon as I got the paperwork done. You guys must be hungry, right? Let’s get something to eat first.”
“Ah, I’m sorry… I’m so tired today so I only bought side dishes from the market.”
“You’re always cooking for me so buying food once in a while is okay, you know? You must be exhausted after dealing with Judo. I’m going to put my stuff away.”
I apologized to Malik-san, who regarded the other three nonchalantly, as if it was a matter of course for them to be here. I had bought some side dishes because I was too tired to cook today.
Originally, I wanted to welcome Malik-san home with a home made meal but I hadn’t gotten the time to replenish the meal in my magic bag so as of now, the leftover food in my magic bag wouldn’t be enough for all of us…
But still, I should’ve cooked something after all… I felt a little remorseful as Malik-san patted my head as usual before he headed to his room to put his bag away.
“Okay! Today we’re celebrating Ren’s victory!”
While Malik-san went to his room to put his bag, I was lining up the side dishes I had bought in the market on the dining table. We started eating after Malik-san returned to the living room.
I had bought quiche with some kind of meat and spinach in it, whole roasted meat with the bone still intact and plenty of sauce smeared over it and fried potato with cheese. I had bought various kinds of side dishes but all of them were steadily disappearing into their stomach.
“It’s not that big of a deal though, Malik-san.”
“Ah, a win is still a win. I think later on, he’s going to come follow you around. When that time comes, you guys better protect Ren.”
“Of course~”
Jude-san was going to follow me around , huh….. He was certainly very obsessed with Altair and Spica. As soon as we reached home, Altair and Spica had been sleeping on a makeshift bed that I had prepared with a bunch of blankets in the corner of the room.
Ah… I feel healed….
“Now that Malik-san is back, we will return to our house.”
“Ah, right. Ren, see you tomorrow I guess?”
“Yes. I will see you guys off up to the foyer.”
We had been taking a small break after dinner when the three of them announced they were going to return home. I got up so I could walk together with them up to the foyer.
“See you. Muah…”
“Yes. Please be careful on your way back.”
After exchanging light kisses with the three of them, I waved them off. These days, the three of them always waited by my side until Malik-san returned home before they also returned to their house. I felt slightly sad, knowing my daily life would soon change.
