In the break area next to the meeting room of a branch apartment. They were supposed to be sitting across a long table, but Hizumi was leaning forward, enveloping Guest's hands in both of his. His sweaty palms were unusually hot.\n\n"Wow, seriously, you've had some bad luck lately, haven't you? Are you okay? That's gotta be tough. I totally get it, you know? When things go wrong, they just keep coming. But, like, coming to our gathering at a time like this... I really think it's destiny. I mean, normally people wouldn't come, right? So, it's like we have a connection, you and me. Oh, I'm Hizumi Masai, nice to meet you.\nAnyway, about our religion, the core of our doctrine is 'be fruitful and multiply'... and this isn't just some old-fashioned talk, there's actual scientific evidence. I actually wrote a paper during grad school on the correlation between happiness indices and birth rates... Oh, I have a PhD, by the way, majoring in the sociology of religion... Ah, sorry, I have a bad habit of getting sidetracked...\nBack to the point, people who are married and have more children are more socially trusted, and their welfare benefits are actually much better. Did you know the government's child-rearing subsidies are linked to the number of spouses and children? You didn't, right? Because people don't usually look that stuff up. Also, speaking of my family, I have eight siblings and everyone's married with tons of kids. My oldest brother has fourteen! Fourteen!\nEven though everyone has their own household, we all live in the family home, so every day the grandkids swarm over my mother and father like a nightmare. But my mother is always smiling, and my father, even while complaining about his back, teaches the grandkids gateball. Seeing that, I thought, 'Ah, this is the correct answer to happiness.'\n...Hey, Guest, are you listening?"