About half an hour had passed since the match with Satoru Gojo.
Shortly after that, the two woke up. With contrasting expressions—Satoru Gojo looking satisfied and Naoya looking fed up—they were sitting amicably next to each other in the seats of honor.
"Naoya, you've been eating nothing but vegetables for a while now. Eat some meat, meat."
"I can't eat it. So pile it up all ya want, it troubles me... Mai-chan, you want some?"
"U-Yeah."
"Are you a vegetarian? With that face?"
"What kinda face is my face?"
"You look like you'd devour women, meat, and booze by the tub, and like you'd beat women a lot."
"Are ya trashin' me? That's a monster. I'm the biggest gentleman in the Zen'in, ya know?"
"Hahaha, maybe so. The little kids seem attached to you, too."
Exchanging conversation appropriate for their age, they seemed familiar enough to appear as friends to onlookers—Gojo actually thought of them as friends, while Naoya found it a hassle deep down. The children around them, receiving the leftovers like hamburger steaks that Gojo had taken the liberty of ordering from the maids to feed Naoya, began to let their guard down around Gojo a little.
And eating freely near them was the Monster of Heavenly Restriction, Toji Fushiguro. He had lost his venom seeing Satoru Gojo—the target of a complex complicated enough that he had previously sneaked into the Gojo household just to get a look—acting 'like a brat' by drawing with Naoya and playing around.
Although they basically stood out in this banquet with their unique atmosphere, no matter how scared the Zen'in clan members were, a long time had passed since the food and alcohol began to flow. The tension gradually began to dissolve, and the atmosphere in the grand hall changed to something slightly more bearable.
Perhaps having assessed the state of the family members, the head of the clan, Naobito Zen'in, spoke up at that moment.
"The banquet is in full swing, but I have one thing to say. Turn your ears and eyes this way for a moment. ...Hey, Naoya. Come here. You too, Megumi. ...Now. Naoya Zen'in standing here. He is my proud son who just fought Satoru Gojo to a draw, but surely no one has any objections to him being the Next Head at this point?"
The first to respond with agreement to Naobito's words were the members of the Kukuru Unit. Being servants who basically dedicated themselves to the duty of hunting cursed spirits, many had their lives saved by Naoya during missions. As a human of the Zen'in clan, Naoya's impression as someone incredibly well-behaved was favorable.
Following them with a positive reaction were the women who were bustling about pouring drinks and serving food at the banquet. All of them felt small within the Zen'in clan, and due to the somewhat bittersweet reason that Naoya was 'considerably kinder than the other men', his favorability was quietly high. However, since they also terribly feared the title of the strongest in the family, it was a state that amounted to reverence.
On the other hand, the reactions were varied among the members of the Hei. Among these powerful individuals of the Zen'in clan, the ones favorable to Naoya were Jinichi, who had a serious personality, and Ranta, who genuinely respected Naoya due to his youth. Chojuro seemed neutral, with an air of "If Naobito says so, isn't that fine?" And Ogi, though emitting a dangerous cursed energy, was clearly enraged but holding back.
Such was the discussion of 'Naoya as the Next Head', which had pros and cons—though the con was just one person, making it technically a debate—but honestly, this was something everyone in the Zen'in clan had known for a long time.
However, the next words spoken by Naobito, who had seemingly stated the obvious just to confirm it, naturally caused a stir among the family members.
"And, by Naoya's direct nomination this time—I have decided to make this boy, Toji's son Megumi Fushiguro, the Next-Next Head of the Zen'in clan. Of course, he will become Megumi Zen'in upon inauguration."
Introduced to the Zen'in clan members with those words, Megumi bowed his head.
The Zen'in clan's reaction to this spiky-headed toddler was, once again, varied.
First, the women and the Kukuru Unit were simply confused, as this was a bolt from the blue. This was, well, a natural reaction.
On the other hand, the powerful members like Jinichi, Ranta, and Chojuro were pondering what was behind this lightning-fast appointment, thinking, 'There's something to this.' Among them, Jinichi, who despite looking like a burly gorilla was actually Toji's biological brother and sharp-witted, turned his gaze to Toji as if sensing something, thinking "Could it be—?" When Toji responded by sticking out his tongue in a completely mocking manner, Jinichi seemed to somehow turn his intuition into conviction.
And as for Ogi Zen'in, the embodiment of delusion boasted by the Zen'in clan, whom even the Next Head Naoya had snapped at:
— bristling with rage, he stood up from his seat and closed in on Naobito.
"Why!? Why do you spout nonsense about making a side branch of a side branch, like Toji's brat, the head? Naobito—!"
"It is obvious. Because after Naoya, Megumi is the strongest. Right, Megumi?"
"Eh!? U-Umm, er? D-Dad!?"
"No, it's a fact. Pull yourself together, Megumi. You're on the side that 'has it', right?"
"—Can I accept that?! No matter how you look at it, he is a brat! In the first place, I do not even accept Naoya as the Next Head!"
"No, Ogi, didn't you lose miserably to Naoya...? Well, fine. If you say that much, why don't you have a match with Megumi? Then everyone in the family will be convinced."
In response to Naobito, who laughed loudly as he said this, Megumi turned pale, while Ogi turned red. And Naoya muttered complaints under his breath, "Shitty old man, I knew ya planned this. At least tell me beforehand."
With them and Naobito in the lead, the Zen'in clan members trooped once again to the training ground in the courtyard—the damage from earlier having been quickly repaired by Chojuro's technique. Afterwards, through a serious match held in Naobito's presence, they would come to accept the existence of the Next-Next Head, Megumi Fushiguro.
After all—
"With this treasure, I summon...!"
"Impossible!?!?"
—Since Ogi was beaten to a pulp right in front of their eyes in that manner, there was no room for complaint. Rather, to the extent that Ogi was somewhat re-evaluated for lasting quite a while against the legendary shikigami, the members of the Zen'in clan acknowledged the existence of Megumi Fushiguro, the complete inheritor of the Ten Shadows Technique.
And that meant nothing other than the fact that the future of the Zen'in clan was bright for the next two generations.
At the banquet that followed, while frightened by the watchful eyes of Naoya and Toji, the number of people taking care of Megumi increased, and the debut ended with a generally favorable impression.
[Reviews - Power St0nes - Comments are highly appreciated to keep me going.....(+50 chapters) patre0n.c0m/talecrafter]