I could feel my consciousness slowly rising.

When I opened my eyes with a sensation like waking up, what came into view was a pure white ceiling.

'...Where is this?'

Staring at a ceiling I had no memory of, I tried to think through the fog of waking, but no answer came. It was clearly different from any ceiling I remembered.

For now, I figured I should sit up, so I tried moving my limbs, but the response was sluggish. No, they were moving, but it didn’t feel like I could actually get up. It was more like my arms and legs were just flailing.

When I brought my vaguely controllable hand in front of me, what spread out below wasn’t an adult’s hand but clearly that of a child.

'...What happened to me? Am I dreaming?'

As I was thinking that, I heard the sound of a sliding door rattling open along with footsteps.

"Hey, how is it, feeling okay?"

"Yeah, I feel great!"

"That’s good to hear. So, have you decided on the kid’s name yet?"

"Yep! Of course!"

I heard a man’s voice and what sounded like a young woman’s voice.

'Voices I don’t recognize'

Ignoring his inner thoughts, their conversation continued.

"Oh? You’re naming them? That makes me a bit uneasy, but what names did you pick?"

"Okay, the oldest is Aquamarine, the middle one is Lapis (Lazuli) and the youngest is Ruby!"

For a moment, it felt like the atmosphere froze from how outrageous the names were.

Anyone out of a hundred would agree they were flashy, over-the-top names.

Yeah... they’re terrible names.

But the biggest problem was that the woman who said them was clearly calling me Lapis Lazuli.

At this point, it was impossible not to understand.

I had been reincarnated.

Once my brain accepted that, the reality of it suddenly sank in.

'Reincarnation... I thought it was just fiction, but it can actually happen? No, it’s already happening. That part doesn’t matter. For now, I should organize the situation...'

I searched through my last memories as Kiyotaka Ayanokouji.

After taking over Class A in place of Sakayanagi, I successfully created a four-way deadlock where any class had a chance to graduate as Class A, and faced the final exam.

In the end, we won and graduated as Class A.

Horikita, Ryuuen, and Ichinose couldn’t bring me down.

Despairing over that fact, I got into Tsukishiro’s car that came to pick me up, and while we were stopped at a red light on the way back to the White Room—

A truck suddenly crashed into us.

It was so sudden I couldn’t avoid it, and Kiyotaka Ayanokouji’s life came to an abrupt end.

...Or at least, it should have.

I don’t know the mechanism, but it seems my life didn’t end after all.

Well, in this body, there’s not much I can do. For now, I’ll focus on gathering information about this world.

* * *

And just like that, several months passed since the life that should have ended began moving again.

By now, I had a rough understanding of my situation.

Apparently, I was born as the middle child of triplets.

As for my mother—

"Sign wa B—!!"

She was the up-and-coming idol Hoshino Ai on TV.

Shockingly, she was 16 years old.

I thought she was young, but she was actually younger than me in my previous life. Still an age you’d call a child.

And of course, if it were discovered she had children, she couldn’t continue being an idol. But Ai didn’t seem to have any intention of quitting. So what would she do? The answer was obvious.

She had no intention of making us public.

'Still, information leaks easily... hope it doesn’t get exposed...'

While I was thinking that—"Wait! M-Ste already started! Why didn’t you wake me up!!"

"I tried waking you up plenty of times. Both of us did."

—I heard that conversation.

Those two were my older brother and younger sister.

The older one was Aquamarine, and the younger one was Ruby—fellow victims of terrible flashy names.

And astonishingly, both of them were also reincarnated—just like me.

I realized it shortly after we were born.

One night, I woke up and went to the living room.

And there, I saw it.

"Haah!! Just die already. You primitive apes who can’t understand Mama’s beauty and talent! The difference in performance makes the difference in class obvious!"

"..."

Ruby was furiously arguing online on her phone, shouting insults, while Aqua watched her from behind the door.

After a while, Aqua stepped in to stop her, and I went out as well.

One baby skillfully operating a smartphone in the dark, and two babies naturally walking on two legs.

As if to confirm the hypothesis forming in all our minds, Aqua spoke first.

"Are you guys... the same as me?"

As I tried to affirm it, Ruby shouted—"A baby talked!! Gross!!"

'That’s completely coming back at you'

After that, one thing led to another, and we confirmed that all of us were reincarnators.

By the way, those two are hardcore fans of Ai.

That’s why whenever no one is in the room, recorded footage of Ai is always playing.

Right now, Ai is appearing on a music program called M-Ste, so the two of them are enthusiastically doing their fan activities with movements far too refined for babies.

Feeling slightly overwhelmed by their energy, I looked at our mother on the screen.

Watching Ai smile and dance on TV, I remembered the first time I saw her as an idol.

It was her first activity after returning.

Dragged by hyper-excited Ruby and Aqua, I was forced to watch TV.

Both of them tightly gripped red penlights—Ai’s image color.

At first, I was exasperated watching them scream and cling to the screen, but that feeling quickly faded.

Not because I got used to it.

The moment I looked at the TV, I couldn’t take my eyes off it—no, off Ai.

Was it her aura? That was part of it.

But there was something else. Something I couldn’t even identify myself.

And for the first time, a certain emotion flickered in my heart.

I can’t remember what that emotion was anymore.

But ever since then, this life of constantly seeing Ai on TV hasn’t felt so bad.

Still, even if I’ve gotten used to life, a baby’s body is inconvenient and comes with problems. The biggest example is this.

"Ruri~, want some milk?"

Ai asked as she picked me up.

By the way, Ruri is the Japanese name for Lapis Lazuli. If she was going to use that, she could’ve just used that reading from the start, but that doesn’t matter now.

I shook my head at full force.

"You don’t want it?"

It seemed Ai understood, and she brought a baby bottle to my mouth.

I drank it, feeling relieved.

'If I had gone along with what Ai said, what would Ruby say later... Your mental age is already an adult, that’s gross~ I can totally picture her saying that'

After I finished, it was Aqua’s turn. He must’ve thought the same thing, since he also drank from a bottle.

And as for Ruby—she was smugly clinging to Ai’s chest.

'Not jealous at all'

After Ai left, Aqua said to Ruby—"You should show a little restraint."

Ruby replied without hesitation, her eyes completely devoid of light.

"Why? It’s only natural for me, her daughter, to drink Mama’s milk. It’s my right."

'Her eyes are completely gone'

"Let me ask just in case—what were your genders in your previous lives?"

I asked, and they answered briefly.

"Male."

"Female."

"I see."

'Then I guess it’s barely okay?'

"Well, it’d be ethically wrong for a grown man to breastfeed. I’m glad I got the gender that can legally do it."

'Pretty sure that’s not a thing...'

"In my ethics, it’s wrong for women too."

Hearing Aqua say that, I strongly agreed internally.

As we talked, Ruby suddenly started fidgeting.

"I want my diaper changed, so go over there."

She said that and started crying to call Miyako.

Miyako is the wife of the president of Ichigo Production, the agency Ai belongs to. She takes care of us when Ai can’t.

'We’re relatively easy kids, but it must still be tough'

As I felt sympathy for Miyako—

As expected, after changing Ruby’s diaper, Miyako shouted—"I’m supposed to be the president’s wife, right? I married him thinking I’d work with young handsome actors, and now I’m stuck taking care of kids! I didn’t get married to be a babysitter!!"

Seeing that, Ruby muttered coldly—"Seriously... being able to devote yourself to Mama is nothing but happiness. Are you insane?"

"No, I can see some validity in what she’s saying."

'Not just Ruby, Aqua also loses all judgment when it comes to Ai'

Thinking that, I looked at Miyako.

'Still, this is pretty bad. We can’t survive without her... what should we do...'

My bad feeling proved correct as Miyako started muttering with lifeless eyes—"This is basically covering up a scandal... if I sell this story to a magazine, I could get rich..."

Seeing that, Ruby asked us—"What do we do!! Kill her?"

Aqua immediately replied—"No. The size difference is too big."

'Ruby’s joking, but Aqua’s serious... anyway, what should we do... talking might just freak her out...'

As I was thinking, Miyako started taking pictures of the maternal handbook.

Seeing that, Aqua hurriedly said—"I have an idea."

We listened to Aqua’s plan and moved to act on it.

"Pitiful child. Your thirst of the heart cannot be quenched by champagne."

Startled by the sudden voice behind her, Miyako turned around.

"Who!?"

There we were—three of us sitting cross-legged on a shelf.

Aqua continued nervously—

"W-We are messengers of the gods. We cannot overlook your wrongdoing any longer."

'That’s a bit of a stretch... how do we fix this...'

Miyako clearly didn’t believe it and suspected a prank.

So I spoke—"Silence, child. We are what you call gods."

The words came out surprisingly naturally.

Before I could continue, Ruby spoke—"You are being swayed by money and abandoning your divine duty."

"Divine duty?"

Miyako asked, and Ruby continued—"Hoshino Ai is a chosen child of the entertainment world. Her children too carry great destiny. Protecting and raising them is your divine duty. Your actions defy that duty. Divine punishment will befall you."

"Divine punishment!? What is that!?"

Miyako panicked. Ruby faltered, unable to answer.

So I continued—"We cannot tell mortals what divine punishment is. But you will not live easily. Or perhaps... not live at all..."

I deliberately trailed off.

Miyako turned pale.

"What should I do..."

Seeing her like that, Ruby pressed the advantage—"It’s simple. Keep this family’s secret. And obey everything these children say. Do that, and even remarrying a handsome actor won’t be just a dream."

Hearing that, Miyako said—"I’ll do it. I’ll do whatever you say."

And grabbed Ruby’s hand.

That’s how we managed to get out of the crisis. After that, Miyako happily took care of us.

As we relaxed, Aqua said—"Still, that was quite the performance. Did you do acting before?"

When Ruby and I denied it, Aqua said—"I see. Then maybe it’s talent. You could go down that path in the future."

And walked away.

'Talent... the words did come out smoothly...'

For a moment, I thought about a future I never considered in my previous life, but decided it wasn’t important right now.