For Maria, it was a night of unprecedented intensity.
She and Sheila had been locked in an unbroken marathon with Bokue from start to finish, and the only coherent thought Maria managed to form before blacking out for the final time was:
Mama definitely cranked the difficulty setting.
The night passed in a haze of something floral and intoxicating. When the brilliant autumn sunlight finally cut through the bedroom curtains and dragged Maria back to consciousness, morning was already well underway.
Her brain was still booting up. Everything was soft focus and static.
Ugh...
The Nightmare girl raised a limp hand to her forehead.
Mama and her difficulty adjustments. Couldn't even let her rest properly.
On the bright side, the weather outside looked gorgeous. With sun like that, the sheets she'd washed this morning would probably be dry by evening—
Wait.
Something was off.
Hold on. Sun this bright?
Common sense kicked in like a delayed alarm. Deep autumn meant sunrise was creeping later and later, edging toward winter hours. On a normal morning, her bedroom window showed a dim, pre-dawn sky with maybe a sliver of early light on the horizon.
Direct, full-force sunlight flooding the room? That wasn't morning. That was late morning. Possibly approaching noon.
That's not right at all!
Maria gasped and threw herself upright.
Except the motion that should have been effortless was anything but. Her abdominal muscles screamed in protest, the kind of deep soreness that came from hours of sustained... exertion. That was problem number one.
Problem number two: something was holding her down.
What?
She turned her head toward the source of resistance.
Bokue's sleeping face was inches from hers.
...Huh?
Maria's brain hit a wall and stopped.
Finding Bokue in her bed first thing in the morning was, admittedly, a pleasant surprise. But past the initial flutter, something else nagged at her. There was another presence. On Bokue's far side. Someone else lying there.
Curiosity won. Maria carefully extracted herself from the arm draped across her body, sat up, and peered over the sleeping young man.
A face even more familiar than his stared back at her from the other pillow.
"M-Mama?!"
The outburst escaped before she could stop it.
The bedroom wasn't large enough for an echo, but the volume was more than sufficient to rouse the other two occupants.
"Mmm~"
Sheila had been curled into a tiny ball on her side, both arms wrapped around Bokue's bicep like a koala on a tree branch. At the sound of her daughter's voice, her brow creased. She rubbed one eye, propped herself up with her free hand, and blinked.
Mother and daughter locked eyes.
Sheila smiled, soft and sleep-warm.
"Good morning, Maria~"
"Good mor— wait, that's not—"
Maria's mouth opened and closed several times in rapid succession, but nothing coherent came out.
This is not a 'good morning' situation!
Waking up next to Bokue-nii was one thing. But Mama? In the same bed? How?
"Surprised?"
Sheila was fully awake now, resting her temple against her palm with a knowing smile.
"Still think last night was a dream? It wasn't."
...!!!
The possibility Maria had been hoping for most had actually come true.
The little Nightmare sucked in a sharp breath, lips trembling.
"But... this..."
"Hm~? Is there a problem?"
Sheila tilted her head, eyes crinkling with satisfaction.
"To test how our Maria really felt about the idea, Mama spent over two weeks laying the groundwork. Those dreams every night? All part of the process. And as it turned out, you seemed to enjoy every single one of them quite thoroughly."
"Think of it like the practice exams at your school."
The Nightmare wife offered the comparison with a straight face.
"After several rounds of mock tests with consistently strong results, Mama decided it was time for the real exam~"
"..."
That's... actually pretty hard to argue with.
Maria thought to herself.
"Hahhh~ Good morning, Maria. Morning, Auntie."
While the two petite Nightmares were still locked in a staring contest, Bokue stirred between them. He yawned, sat up, and greeted them both with the casual ease of someone who hadn't just dismantled every remaining boundary in this household.
"Good morning, Bokue~"
Sheila's smile turned tender. She'd been sitting with her legs folded beneath her, but when the young man woke, she shifted to kneel on the mattress, reaching over to smooth down his sleep-mussed hair with both hands.
"Sorry, did Maria and I wake you? We were being too loud."
"Nah... I was already up."
Bokue's eyes opened, as clear and bright as ever. No trace of fatigue.
"You were both still asleep, so I just lay back down for a bit."
"I see. That's good."
Relief softened Sheila's expression further. Her gaze drifted past Bokue's shoulder to the Nightmare girl on the other side.
"I'm sorry, Maria. No matter how many practice runs we did, what Mama did was still... well, Mama just couldn't hold back anymore."
"I'm honestly fine with it..."
Maria blinked.
At the end of the day, human morality simply didn't map onto demon society. And among demons, Nightmares occupied the same freewheeling tier as Succubi, where creative arrangements were less "taboo" and more "Tuesday."
If anything, she'd been expecting this. Hoping for it, even. Especially after watching Venelana and Rias successfully navigate the same situation. That had lit a spark of specifically Nightmare-flavored inspiration in her.
She just hadn't expected Mama to beat her to the punch.
"Good. Then—"
Sheila breathed a quiet sigh of relief, and the warm smile returned in full.
"Let's revitalize the Nightmare bloodline together, right here on Itogami Island~"
"Yeah!"
"Although, now that I think about it..."
Sheila suddenly glanced around the room, puzzled.
"Where's Lucia??"
"Huh?"
Maria blinked. She had no idea why her aunt and cousin were being brought up right now.
Bokue coughed lightly. "Auntie, you passed out last night before Maria even arrived."
"Oh? ...Oh. So the spell wore off when I lost consciousness."
Sheila paused, then understanding dawned and she murmured to herself.
But the setback lasted all of half a second. She straightened up, clenched one tiny fist with renewed determination.
"No matter. If last night didn't work out, we try again tonight!"
"Wh—?!"
Maria's eyes flew wide.
Last night had nearly killed her, and tonight was going to be a repeat performance?
I'm going to die... well, not die... but a Nightmare's life is still a life!
"No running away, Maria~"
Sheila wagged her index finger with a gentle smile.
"Remember? We made a promise. We're revitalizing the Nightmare bloodline together~"
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