Chapter 20

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## Chapter Chronology

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Chapter 21

This is chapter 20 in the Heaven's Design Team manga series.

## Plot

A new order comes into the department from God for "an animal that inspires maternal instinct." Shimoda tries to find a designer to take on the job. But the team is busy with other projects, especially Kimura, who is working on a new tasty sea critter. However, he can't get the flavor just right. At that moment, Meido raises her hand and volunteers.

Shimoda is worried as Meido seems to be the least suited. Kimura even notes that it is a little out of her area of expertise, to which Meido agrees. She asks him for some advice, to which he agrees. This causes Shimoda, Kanamori, and Unabara to worry. They comment that neither one is an expert on topics like love.

As Meido tries to think of an idea, she looks over at Kimura's Japanese spider crabs and asks what they are doing. Kimura explains how the male crabs use their long legs to imprison the females to prevent any rivals from coming anywhere near. With that in mind, Meido theorizes that love is like a prison, shocking the rest of the team observing from a distance. Worried that Meido might be getting the wrong idea, Kanamori and Unabara decide to help.

Rather than imprisonment, they suggest to Meido something nicer, like cuddling against a belly, like Unabara's bear cubs. Meido looks over at the cubs and specifies that one is going to be abandoned. Shimoda is shocked by her comment, but she explains that Unabara designed that feature into the giant panda. If the mother has two cubs, she picks the bigger cub to raise, leaving the smallest to fend for itself. Unabara claims that he only did that as an adaptation to help improve the panda's chances of survival. Otherwise, the panda can raise two cubs if the conditions are not so rough.

Just then, Kimura points out that the two cubs could have different fathers. Because of the adaption, the female could mate with several males at different times and give birth all at once. Unabara unfortunately agrees with Kimura's statement, which Meido finds very useful. This causes Kanamori and Unabara to panic, and the two try to get her to focus on familial love. Kanamori explains how familial love isn't just between a mother and a child. She then demonstrates with one of her bird species, the house sparrow. Not only do the fathers help raise the chicks, but the house sparrow also shares food with others by calling them over.

Kimura interrupts and asks whether they are really trying to help each other out. He goes on to explain that if there was only enough food for one bird, it wouldn't call out to the others. After a quick demonstration, Kanamori embarrassingly admits that the real reason is to make it easier to escape from predators if there was a whole group instead of one. Kimura quotes that there is no fooling the "foodie detective." Meido thanks the two team members for the helpful information. Despite Kanamori's protest, Meido gets down to work on the project.

Several hours later, Meido finishes her design and gets ready to present it to the others. Kimura and Unabara had gone to Trial Island to do more testing with their animals, leaving Shimoda and Kanamori to stay and listen. Meido begins with a visual aid, which resembles a round fluffy cloud. Surprised by her approach, the two have her continue. She explains how the ball of fluff is cradled against the belly of the father. Curious, Kanamori asks what it is, only for Meido to proclaim that it is a pouch of parasitic eggs. When the female attaches to the male host species, it infects the host's nervous system causing a chemical imbalance, making the host care for the eggs as if they were it's own.

Both Shimoda and Kanamori are left appalled by what Meido had just presented. But at that moment, Shimoda gets a message from God giving divine approval for Meido's animal, the rhizocephalan. Kanamori is amazed at how quickly God approved without finding a host animal. Realizing that she forgot, Meido offers to have Kanamori's bird be the host. Kanamori panics and suggests that she wasn't the only one who helped out. Later on Trial Island, Kanamori, Kimura, and Unabara are all lined up with their animals. At Kanamori's suggestion, Meidopicks which animal to be the host. To both Kanamori and Unabara's relief, she picks Kimura's Japanese spider crab.