In the backwoods of a rural hospital, 16-year-old Ai Hoshino, still sparkling as the lead idol of B-Komachi, delivers—not twins, as anticipated—but triplets.
Aqua and Ruby are born first, their wails filling the delivery room.
And then, to everyone's surprise, a third baby is pushed out.
He doesn't cry initially. He blinks slowly—strangely serene, as if reflecting on the instant. Then he weeps—not from suffering—but from thankfulness.
His name: Souta.
As Aqua and Ruby were, he was reborn.
But while theirs was a birth on this world, his was not. He had died far away—a soul alone through unmeasurable power. In the very end, all he ever desired was to be loved by a mother.
So when his eyes open and he finds Ai's face, smiling at him through her tiredness, he thinks in his heart:
"I'm home."
From the outside, Souta is merely the most clingy of the triplets. He bawls when Ai goes off to work. He requires three goodnight kisses. He insists on being held even if she's in the middle of cooking.
But at 1 years old, the façade shatters.
Ai accidentally cuts herself while peeling an apple. She winces in pain and brushes Miyako off to get a bandage.
Before she can reach the sink, Souta walks up, grabs her hand with tiny fingers, and the wound vanishes in an instant.
"W-What was that…?" Miyako blurts out.
Souta giggles and claps his hands.
"Easy! Anyone can do that, right?"
To prove it, he waves his hand again—and a scene from "Pretty Cure" appears in the air, perfectly animated, as if the TV was floating midair.
Ai stares, stunned.
Souta tilts his head with a look of innocence. "I just wanted Mama to smile…"
Ai crouches, cradles his face, and kisses his forehead.
"Don't ever use that on strangers, okay?"
He nods, understanding exactly what she means.
That night, the triplet siblings make a vow. Souta will only use his powers for their family.
Even in the warmth, shadows creep in.
Ai's career takes off, but so do the rumors. The reality of her pregnancy, the father, the secret children. And someone is lurking.
In the original timeline, Aqua and Ruby were double. Now, with Souta, there's that added dose of complications. He notices too much—the unusual cars parked outside, the flash of resentment in old coworkers, the fanatical quality of Ai's stalker mail.
He wants to do something. But he promised.
Then there is that night.
Ai returns late from a fan convention. She unlocks the door to a knife-wielding man.
The twins are sleeping. Miyako is not home. Souta is in the other room.
He hears her cry out.
He stands in the black hall, power shaking in his little hands.
He promised that he'd never use his powers for personal gain.
But this is Ai.
This is his mother.
He acts.
The lights go out. The air changes. And the knife-wielding man is caught in suspended time, looking a boy he has no business being in the face.
Souta glares up at him, icy for the first time in his life.
"You don't get to touch her."
He rewinds time by ten seconds, restores the knife to the man's grasp—and this time, Ai bangs the door shut and flees.
Souta collapses subsequently, spent.
When Ai discovers him lying unconscious with a pale golden aura surrounding his hands, she knows: he violated his rule. For her.
The knife attack continues to make headlines.
But in this timeline, Ai survives.
Thanks to Souta's covert action, the attacker panicked and ran, caught on tape soon after. Aqua never becomes fixated on revenge. Ruby never holds on to Ai's memory.
In place of which, a new narrative unfolds.
Ai decides to step back from the idol life. Not fully—but enough to keep her family safe.
Miyako, Ichigo, and Ai establish a plan: they'll gradually expose the kids to the business when the time comes. Carefully. On their own terms.
Souta—once again playful and energetic—returns to being the cheerful, clingy brother.
But Aqua never forgets what went down that night.
One night, he catches Souta in the hallway.
"You can stop time, can't you?"
Souta glances aside.
"Please don't tell Mama…"
Aqua simply groans. "I won't. But why didn't you erase that guy out of existence?"
Souta smiles weakly.
"Because Mama wouldn't have wanted me to."
Aqua catches it in his eyes: infinite power, restrained not by fear—but by love.
After the knife attack, Ai's entourage moves swiftly to tighten security. In public, the attacker is described as a crazed stalker with no connection to the children.
Ichigo Saitou, however, is privy to what really transpires:
"A fan discovered where she lived. That means we slipped. And we can't slip again."
Miyako insists on Ai keeping a low profile.
Ai refuses. "I'll back away. But I won't flee. I became an idol to show that I could love. That hasn't changed."
She continues to sing—but only infrequently performs live. Now she concentrates on voice, photography, and bringing up her children.
People start wondering if Ai has a hidden family. But Ichigo handles the news, carefully keeping things in check.
Meanwhile, Souta, Aqua, and Ruby grow into clever, sharp-eyed children, already absorbing the industry around them like sponges.