My Scumbag System-Chapter 315: My Stepdad’s Approval Came With One, Terrifying Condition
We stood in silence for a while, two men watching the lights of civilization pulse and shift below. The wind picked up, carrying the cigarette smoke away in lazy spirals.
"Natalia’s mother was a B-Rank," Luka said finally. His voice had lost its earlier edge, replaced by something older. Sadder. "She was the most beautiful woman I’d ever seen. Could freeze the blood in your veins with a glance, but her smile..." He shook his head. "Her smile could warm you from across a room."
I said nothing.
"We thought we were invincible. B-Ranks at twenty, rising stars in Aegis Prime. The world was ours for the taking." Another drag. Another exhale. "We had Natalia during the academy. Got Married after. Kept hunting."
"What happened?"
"The job happened." Luka’s jaw tightened. "Months apart on deployment. Coming home with injuries that took weeks to heal. Living each day wondering if the next Gate would be the one that killed you." He turned to look at me, his brown eyes reflecting the distant lights. "You start wondering if every kiss is the last one. Every ’I love you’ might be a goodbye. It breaks something inside you. Breaks something between you."
The cigarette had burned down to a stub. He dropped it, ground it out under his boot.
"Elena couldn’t handle it. The stress. The fear. The constant, gnawing certainty that one day I wouldn’t come home." His voice roughened. "She left when Natalia was seven. Couldn’t stay married to a dead man walking."
"I’m sorry."
"Don’t be. She wasn’t wrong." Luka turned to face me fully, his massive frame blocking out a portion of the cityscape. "I don’t care about the step-sibling thing, Satori. You and Natalia aren’t blood. The law doesn’t care. I don’t care."
I waited.
"But I won’t watch my daughter break the way her mother did." His voice carried steel now, the tone of a veteran who’d seen too much death to tolerate any more. "I won’t watch her mourn you. I won’t watch her shatter because she gave her heart to a Hunter and the Gates took him away."
"Luka—"
"I’m not finished." He stepped closer, and despite everything I’d survived, despite the gods and monsters and conspiracies, I felt a genuine flicker of fear. "If you do this. If you claim her. If you take my daughter as yours..."
He poked me in the chest with one massive finger.
"You have to survive. That is my only rule. You don’t get to die and leave her behind. You come home. Always. Every time. No matter what."
The city lights twinkled below us. The wind carried the faint sound of traffic.
I met Luka’s eyes and didn’t look away.
"I’m too stubborn to die," I said. "And I’m too greedy to leave her. Natalia is mine. I don’t say that to disrespect you. I say it because it’s the truth. She belongs to me, and I belong to her, and I will burn down anyone or anything that tries to take that away."
Something shifted in Luka’s expression. A hint of approval, maybe. Or recognition.
"You really have changed," he murmured. "Three months ago, you couldn’t look me in the eye."
"Three months ago, I had nothing worth fighting for."
He studied me for a long moment, then nodded slowly. "Alright then." His hand came down on my shoulder, heavy but not threatening. "Welcome to the family, son. For real this time."
We started walking back toward the SUV.
I’d made it about three steps when Luka’s voice stopped me cold.
"Oh, and Satori?"
I turned.
The man who’d just given me his blessing wore an expression of absolute, terrifying seriousness. "I am forty-five years old. I am in my prime. I am far too young and far too handsome to be a grandfather."
My brain short-circuited.
"Do you understand me?"
"Crystal clear," I managed. "Absolutely. Zero chance. None whatsoever. Protection is my middle name. I will become a monk if necessary."
"Good."
We reached the car. I grabbed the door handle, ready to collapse into the back seat and process the emotional whiplash of the past hour.
Natalia rolled down her window.
Her purple eyes sparkled with mischief, that particular gleam that always preceded something catastrophic for my blood pressure. Her lips curved into a smile that was equal parts innocent and devastating.
"We’ll see," she said.
I choked on my own saliva.
The ferry terminal appeared through the windshield an hour later, its lights blazing against the black waters of the bay.
The atmosphere in the SUV had transformed during the rest of the drive. Not comfortable, exactly. The tension of revealed secrets couldn’t dissipate that quickly. But something had shifted. Something had settled.
Kimiko had started asking questions about our plans. About the Academy. About what we’d faced in the Gate and what we’d face going forward. Her voice carried worry, the kind that only mothers seemed capable of producing, but also something else.
Pride, maybe. Or acceptance.
Luka had started talking too. Offering advice about Guild recruiters. Warning us about political games at the VHC. Sharing war stories from his own Academy days with the casual ease of a father passing wisdom to his children.
Both of his children.
When the car finally rolled to a stop at the terminal parking lot, the clock on the dashboard read 11:47 PM. The last ferry to the NVA Atoll departed in fifteen minutes.
Kimiko turned in her seat, her hazel eyes glistening in the dim light. "Be careful. Both of you." She reached back, and I leaned forward to accept her embrace. It was gentle, mindful of my still-healing injuries, but fierce in its intensity. "And call me. Every day. I mean it, Satori."
"I will."
She pulled back, cupped my face in her hands. "You’ve become such a fine young man." Her voice cracked slightly. "Your father would be proud."
The words hit harder than any monster ever had.
Luka climbed out of the SUV and circled around to my door. When I stepped out, he extended his hand.
I took it.
His grip was firm. A man-to-man handshake, the kind that communicated respect without needing words.
"Look after her," he said.
"I will."
"And look after yourself." A ghost of a smile crossed his weathered face. "My daughter apparently has terrible taste in men. I’d hate to see her cry over you."
I laughed, surprising myself. "I’ll do my best to disappoint her expectations in every other way instead."
