All Routes Lead to Infantilism? [ABDL CONTENT]

    Intelligent, graceful, and the pinnacle of high society...that was what everyone thought of the young Catarina Claes. Well, at least that was what they should have thought of her. If everything had gone as the otome game was planned. If some otaku girl hadn't been suddenly pulled into the world and forced into the role of Catarina herself. So instead she appeared to most as dumb, clumsy, and someone whom was only a part of high society in name only. That wouldn't have been so bad, of course, especially since this change in attitude only seemed to charm those around her more. There was, however, just one small stipulation to the whole thing.

    Catarina was the role of the villainess, and the villainess was fated for exile or death.

    “Ohh...come on!” Catarina whined to herself as she walked through town, her personal maid Anne by her. The maid hardly responded to the young lady’s ramblings, having well gotten used to her odd behavior by now. It had been a few weeks since Catarina had regained her memories, and no matter how much she tried to avoid the flags that would lead to her fate, they only seemed to continue piling up.

    “What could I do to try and keep those flags from triggering…” Catarina muttered quietly to herself, desperate for any kind of reassurance that she would not be exiled or worse. As she considered her options, she eventually managed to decide that the most efficient way to do this would be to divert the attention of the love rivals away from the four conquerable men, but...but how…

    Putting her young brain to work, Catarina attempted to concoct some kind of master plan that would solve all of her problems. Of course, Catarina was far from the smartest and most aware person out there, which led to her being unable to come up with anything off the top of her head. Alright...time for a new strategy. What did she know about the two rivals? What could she use to distract them? Mary and Sophia…

    It was then that a thought came into her mind. One small piece of throwaway text from Mary when she had been playing the game in her past life. “What I wouldn't do to have a baby sister of my own...someone to dote on and care for…” She remembered Mary saying, lamenting her own trouble with her sister. That was it then! Mary, and perhaps Sophia, could be distracted with a baby sister to care for! But...well, it wasn't as though she had a baby on hand!

    Sighing in frustration at her seemingly fool proof plan falling apart mere seconds after conception, Catarina looked up from the floor at the stores around her...and saw quite the peculiar shop. A baby supply store, and one with all kinds of merchandise. Including things that seemed like they would be just big enough to fit someone her age...someone like her…

    It was then that a spark of brilliance went off in Catarina’s mind. Which in fact meant that she had come up with a plan that only someone as dense as her could have made up. “Alright...we’re going in there!” She shouted, pointing towards the store while tugging on her maid’s dress.

    Anne looked at Catarina hesitantly, but unable to refuse the demand, she sighed and nodded. “Yes, Lady Claes.” She said with a repressed groan, knowing that whatever Catarina had in mind, it certainly could not be good…

    “Ah, is Catarina here? She invited us over in a hurry.” Mary said as she walked into the manor, looking around to see where her close friend was. “Oh, is she up in her room?” Right beside her stood Sophia, st the moment silent and quiet, looking around for the girl in question herself.

    Shaking her head, Anne began to turn around and lead the two while another servant shut the door behind them. “She is up in one of the rooms we had not been using. She made a few...renovations.” She said while leading them along. “She simply wanted you to see them...and promise to keep them a secret from her mother.”

    Sophia and Mary exchanged confused glances over this situation, but quickly recovered. Catarina always had been the odd type, and apparently, this visit would prove no different. Closely following the servant, they headed towards the room and promptly began to walk in…

      And the second they walked in, they would be greeted by a sight neither of them had been prepared for. The spare room had been completely turned into a giant nursery, complete with a crib, a playpen stuffed with toys, and a changing table in the corner stocked with diapers. The walls had been painted a pastel shade of blue, patterned with pictures of blocks, rattles, pacifiers, and baby bottles. Most notably of all was the fact that everything in the room seemed sized up to fit someone noticeably bigger than your average infant. 

       And standing in the middle of this room was the young Lady Catarina, wearing a frilly blue dress, short enough to show the diaper of a similar color around her waist. Once she heard the door open, Catarina turned to her friends with a satisfied smile. "Ah, good! You're finally here!" She said as she walked up to them. "What do you think of the room?"

    “I, umm...w-what is this place, Catarina?” Mary asked in a confused tone, looking around the room and everything it held. What was she supposed to say? She could hardly find the words to express herself. “It's...well, it's certainly a rather unique room…”

    Speaking up for the first time since arriving, Sophia blushed and walked around the strange nursery. “You're wearing...a diaper? Is this something you like?” She asked, not wanting to be judgemental, but undoubtedly finding it strange.

       In all of the 5 seconds Catarina spent forming this infallible plan, the one thing she never thought of was how she would explain this insane idea to her friends. After all, she couldn’t exactly say “I’m gonna act like a baby so you two don’t have time to pursue romances that will lead to my doom!”... Thinking for a few seconds, Catarina tried to come up with a good excuse, eventually just deciding to say the first thing that came to mind.

       “U-Um, well… I-It’s important for nobles like us to know how to take care of children, right? We’re all expected to, um… c-continue our bloodlines someday! So, I figured I would… t-take the initiative and help you two practice on me!” Catarina stuttered out with a nervous smile. “I know we’re only kids right now, but it’s never too early to start practicing, right?”

    This explanation hardly made any sense at all, but then again, when did anyone know Catarina to be someone that made complete sense? “Oh, that's...well, I suppose that makes sense!” Mary said, just going with the flow of the situation. “But in that case...don't you also need to practice?”

      “O-Oh, don’t worry about me! I’ll practice later with Keith!” Catarina responded, a bold-faced lie that she had come up with on the spot. “Right now, I just want to help you two practice! Besides, don’t you think I look cute?” She asked, even striking a cute pose to try and increase her appeal.

    Despite how odd this situation really was, there was one thing that neither of the two young girls could deny… Catarina was absolutely adorable like this. “Well...O-Of course you are. You definitely make for a cute baby.” Sophia replied as she looked her dress over.

    Nodding her head in agreement, Mary giggled a little while admiring the infantile outfit from every angle. “It certainly suits you.” She said, which...was looking good dressed in baby clothes a compliment?

      Deciding not to dwell on that, Catarina just smiled and pulled the two girls further into the nursery. Anne shut the doors behind them, standing inside the nursery to watch over Catarina and make sure she didn’t do anything too ridiculous or reckless. “Alright, let’s get started, you two! First things first, feeding time!” She said, pointing to a nearby highchair.

    Deciding to split the work, Mary went to go and grab some baby food that was already set out, while Sophia led Catarina over to the highchair and prepared to get her into it. “Alright, let's get you in there.” She said, softly smiling as she lifted her up with all her strength and into the chair, before closing a tray to lock her in safe and sound.

      Catarina smiled at Sophia as the girl helped her into the highchair, placing her hands on the tray and kicking her legs back and forth cutely as she waited. “This is working perfectly so far! I can already tell they’re completely focused on taking care of me! I just have to keep this up for a while, and then my doom flags won’t even have a chance to show up!” She thought to herself with a small chuckle.

    Asking up to the highchair, Mary took the lid off the jar of baby food and then began to grab a spoonful of it. “Alright, open up and I'll start feeding you.” She said with a smile. It was a rather large jar, but then again, Catarina also tended to eat a lot of food in general. Mostly sweets, but hopefully she would be fine eating this too.

      Catarina, of course, immediately opened her mouth for the first spoonful of baby food, quickly swallowing it once it was placed on her tongue. She had gotten every flavor of mush that looked like it would taste sweet, and clearly she had hit the mark. While it was a bit weird to be eating something like this, Catarina couldn’t deny that it was quite tasty. “Wow, that’s delicious!” She said as she opened her mouth for more.

    “R-Really?” Mary asked in disbelief, but she didn't question it too much. If that's what Catarina liked, then who was she to question it too much? “In that case, get ready, because it's all for you!” She exclaimed, before beginning to feed her spoonful after spoonful of the baby food, enjoying how adorable she looked like this.

       Catarina happily opened up her mouth for each spoonful she was given, swallowing it with excitement before repeating the cycle over and over again. She had expected the baby food to taste good, but certainly not THIS good! Eventually, the jar had run empty, and Catarina seemed satisfied, bits of mush stuck to her face as she leaned back in the highchair. “That tasted great! Thank you, Mary~”

    Giving a smile right back to her friend, Mary prepared to allow Catarina out of the highchair, before Sophia walked forward with a rag in hand. “Let's get you all cleaned up, okay?” She asked as she brought the rag to Catarina’s face, beginning to try and clean her up as best as she possibly could.

       Deciding that she might as well help Sophia “practice”, as soon as the rag was brought to her face, Catarina squirmed and tried to dodge the rag. “My face doesn’t need to be cleaned! I’m perfectly fine!” She said as she continued to squirm.

    “Oh, but there's mush all over it.” Sophia said as she continued to wipe it away, eventually managing to clean Catarina’s face of any stains and then pulling away from here. Afterwards, Mary began to lift the tray on the highchair, promptly helping Catarina out afterwards.

      As soon as she was out of the highchair, Catarina grinned at her two “caretakers” before quickly waddling over towards the playpen, trying to climb up into it on her own. “Now it’s time to play with my toys!” She said excitedly.

    Not wanting to miss how cute Catarina would look doing this, Mary and Sophia immediately hurried over towards the playpen to look inside. “What are you going to play with first?” Mary asked curiously. 

      Catarina looked over her options for a few moments, before grabbing a rattle and holding it up for Mary and Sophia to see. “I’m gonna play with this!” She said before beginning to shake it around happily, clearly enjoying the noise that resulted

    “Aww~” The two girls cooed in near unison, clearly eating everything that Catarina did up...which meant that her plan was working! And even better than she had thought it would! Within mere minutes they were fixated on her! Not that they weren't before, but still.

      “Hehehe… All I have to do is keep this up, and I’ll be safe for sure!” Catarina thought to herself as she continued to shake the rattle happily, trying to look as cute as possible so the girls would keep their attention on her. Eventually, she set the rattle down, and grabbed a couple plushies, holding them out towards Mary and Sophia. “Why don’t you two play with me?”

    Not even thinking about turning her down regarding this, the two nodded, beginning to climb into the playpen themselves and take the two plush toys. “Of course we’ll play with you!” Mary said cheerfully, holding a plush cat in hand and beginning to move it around.

      Catarina smiled as the two girls agreed to play with her, grabbing a third plush cat and beginning to make it dance around, just like Mary was doing. While this was still mostly just to help avoid her own doom flags, Catarina had to admit that playing like this was pretty fun…!

    Both Mary and Sophia were enjoying themselves too, but not because they were playing with the toys. No, it was because they were spending time with Catarina, who was cuter than ever. “Umm...thank you for helping us out with...learning to care for babies.” Sophia said with a smile, entirely convinced that this was NOT the reason Catarina was doing this, but deciding to humor her anyways while playing.

      “Of course! It’s a pretty good plan, right?” Catarina said, puffing out her chest with pride. “You’d never believe an 8-year-old came up with it!” Which she didn’t, considering Catarina was mentally 17 at this point. “I bet you two will be great mothers someday, all thanks to my help!”

    “Yes, of course, all thanks to you, Catarina.” Mary said with a giggle, before beginning to think about something. She really did want Catarina to stay like this for a while… “You know, I think that if we want to become, well, really good mothers, then we should do this pretty often.” She said.

      Mary was furthering Catarina’s plan without even realizing it! With a mischievous chuckle, Catarina nodded. “Yeah, that sounds like a good idea! We’ll do it as often as we can, and we’ll get a lot of practice in!” That, and it would just mean less time for Mary and Sophia to get close to Alan and Nicol, making everything so much easier for her!

    Sophia gave a small smile as she heard this, already imagining all the cute things they would be able to do with Catarina while she was like this. “I'm happy to hear. I'm sure that this will...definitely help us both.” She replied.

       Catarina nodded, and soon went back to playing with her toys, smiling brightly as she did so. After about 20 minutes or so, however, Catarina suddenly felt a certain urge strike her. Knowing that she had to keep appearances up, she didn’t fight it at all and just let go… Meaning that soon a noticeable hissing noise would fill the air, along with the designs on the front of Catarina’s diaper very clearly beginning to fade away.

    Quickly noticing what was wrong, Mary turned towards Catarina with a shocked expression, not having expected her to go...that far. “O-Oh, did you have an accident?” She asked as she put a hand to her diaper to check her.

      Catarina just blushed a little bit as Mary felt her diaper, but nodded anyway, since there wasn’t really anything she could do to hide the truth. “W-Well, that’s natural, right? Babies have accidents, and I’m a baby right now!”

    While both of the girls caring for Catarina weren't exactly too excited to change her, and they even briefly contemplated asking Anne to do the actual changing, they eventually decided to go and do so themselves. After all, this was supposed to be training for when they were mothers… “Of course. I'll go get the changing supplies and you can change her, alright?” Mary said to Sophia.

    Sophia recognized the disproportionate workload for this immediately, but nodded her head while bringing Catarina over towards the changing table. “O-Of course.” She said while getting the girl up onto it and laying her down.

      Catarina was still blushing as she laid down on the changing table, the full weight of what she had just gotten herself into finally hitting her. But she had to stay strong! This was all for the sake of avoiding the terrible fate that awaited her! “Thank you for changing me, Sophia…” She said with a small, nervous smile to try and ease the embarrassment of the situation.

    “I-It is not a problem at all.” Sophia replied with her own nervous smile, beginning to untape her friend’s soaked garment and placing it in the pail beside the changing table, before taking the wipes Mary handed to her and beginning to clean her up gently.

      Catarina shivered as the cold wipes touched her skin, and she immediately began to squirm around uncomfortably. Jeez, why did they have to make the wipes so cold…?! She tried her best to stay still, but that was something easier said than done at the moment…

    “P-Please don't squirm around too much.” Sophia said as she continued to wipe, holding onto Catarina’s legs just to make sure she wasn't moving around too wildly. After finally satisfied with cleaning her up, she began to sprinkle the baby powder, before taping the thick, crinkling diaper onto her. “There you go.”

       Catarina sat up and poked her new diaper a couple times, blushing again as she heard the crinkling that resulted. “Thank you again, Sophia… I-I bet that was really good practice for you, huh?” She asked, still trying to cover her tracks.

    Perhaps a bit more practice than someone of her age would have liked, but Sophia nodded and forced a smile to make Catarina feel better anyways. “Of course, it was...perfect practice. I'm sure I'll be a better mother because of it.” She replied.

     “E-Exactly! See? This plan is working perfectly already!” Catarina responded, striking a very confident pose as she spoke. “Anyway, now that I’m all changed, let’s go back to playing!” She said as she waddled back over towards the playpen.

    Attempting to get over the awkwardness of what had just happened, Mary and Sophia both nodded while walking back to the playpen, helping Catarina in before getting back in themselves and starting to play once more.

     Seeing Mary and Sophia having fun (or at least, she thought they were) made Catarina even more positive that this was the right idea. Not only was she avoiding her doom flags now, but her friends were getting enjoyment out of this too! It truly was the perfect plan… “Today has been fun so far, hasn’t it?” Catarina asked, trying to make sure she was reading the room right.

    Despite how slightly awkward this had been, both Mary and Sophia looked at one another, before nodding with gleeful smiles. “Of course it has been! You certainly make for an adorable baby.” Mary replied with a grin.

    Sophia nodded in agreement while still staring at the cute sight of the infantile Catarina. “It's true. I might even like you a little better like this...I-I hope that's not something strange to say…”

      Catarina blushed at Sophia’s comment, but smiled at the white-haired girl regardless. “Well, I’m glad to hear that! Hopefully we can do this more often, then!” She said with excitement, more than happy to keep this treatment going if it meant her plan would stay in motion.

    With both Mary and Sophia approving of the idea, both clearly excited to continue seeing Catarina in such a state, they agreed to care for Catarina as though she was a baby for as long as the infantile girl wanted...and considering that it would need to at least last until after the events of the game, that would end up being quite a while…

****************************

      Walking through the hallways of the Magic Academy, the now teenage Catarina walked with all the grace and poise one would expect from a girl of her status. Of course, those who knew her would know she was anything but graceful and poised… “Ah… Another uneventful day of classes…” She sighed to herself. She never was the best student, even in her past life, and this school just served to remind her of that. “I wish I didn’t have to deal with this stuff… I’m a noble, shouldn’t stuff just be handed to me my whole life?” She whined.

    As Catarina contemplated this, however, a familiar voice would come from right behind. “Oh, there you are. I've been looking for you.” Mary said as she walked up to the girl...and before she could even get in a reply, Mary lifted up the back of her skirt to get a look at her diaper. “Do you need a change yet?”

     While it was still pretty embarrassing to get her diaper checked in the middle of the hallway, this was far from the first time it had happened, and Catarina had grown used to it. As Mary lifted up Catarina’s skirt, she would easily be able to see that Catarina’s diaper was sagging a bit, and if she looked at the front of the padding, she would see that the star designs had faded off. “Ahahaha… Y-Yeah, maybe… I, uh… I wet myself near the end of class, and couldn’t leave since we were in the middle of a lecture.”

    “I thought as much. You can tell from the way you walk.” Mary replied, having grown used to such small details by now. Taking Catarina’s hand into her own, she gave a smile and began to lead her towards her room. “Let's go and get you changed really quick, alright? You don't want to stay in a soaked diapee for too long.” She cooed.

       Catarina blushed a little bit as Mary cooed at her, but nodded and allowed the girl to lead her off. Ever since that day in her childhood when she came up with the idea to act like a baby to distract Mary and Sophia from pursuing romance, she had practically stayed in diapers 24/7, with both girls acting as her caretakers. 

        Which was fine by her, since acting like a baby was actually pretty relaxing, and the longer her plan went on, the less time Mary and Sophia had to accidentally trigger her doom flags. “I can’t believe you and Sophia have been taking care of me for so long… I thought for sure you would’ve gotten sick of it eventually!” She said with a small laugh.

    Shaking her head, Mary smiled towards Catarina while leading her along. “That's silly, I could...I would never get sick of you, Catarina.” She said with a bashful blush while looking away as they approached the diapered girl’s room.

      Catarina just took the statement at face value, assuming Mary would never get sick of her because they were such close friends. Smiling at the other girl, she nodded in agreement as the two of them walked into her room. And, as was expected at this point, Catarina’s personal room was one giant nursery, with everything sized up to fit a teenager of her size. “I’ll never get tired of how cute my room is!” She squealed.

    “It certainly is adorable. I almost envy you.” Mary said, though mostly just to play along. She wasn't a baby like her friend, so while she did find the room cute, she couldn't exactly see herself having one. Nonetheless, she had spent so much time in there that she practically had the room memorized, walking towards the changing table and preparing all the supplies.

      "Well, if you wanted to get dressed up sometime and have a playdate with me, I wouldn't say no!" Catarina said with a bit of a giggle as she hopped onto the changing table and laid down on top of it, lifting her skirt up so Mary could reach her diaper. 

    “I'll, umm...consider the offer.” Mary said dismissively as she began to untape Catarina’s diaper, removing the soaked garment and tossing it into the nearby diaper pail, before grabbing a few wet wipes and starting to clean her up.

      Catarina just giggled again as Mary said she'd consider it, staying as still as possible as her diaper was changed to make it easier for Mary to actually get the change done. Of course, "still as possible" wasn't very still at all for Catarina, who squirmed around for practically the entire change. 

    By this point Mary had gotten used to this, managing to keep Catarina in place for the most part as she wiped her. Afterwards, she started to sprinkle the baby powder onto her waist, before sliding a fresh new diaper underneath her and taping it up. “There you go!”

      As soon as her fresh diaper was taped up, Catarina smiled and quickly hopped off the changing table, giving Mary an appreciative hug as soon as she was on the ground. "Thank you for changing me, Mary~" ”

    “It was no problem at all.” Mary replied as she hugged Catarina back, before pulling away and smiling brightly. “Now, what would you like to do now, Catarina?” She asked.

       "Well, since we're in my nursery, it only seems right to start playing with my toys!" Catarina cheered as she waddled over towards a pile of toys built up in the center of the room, sitting down in front of it and grabbing a rattle, beginning to shake it with a wide smile on her face. 

    Seeing absolutely no problems with this, Mary nodded and followed after her, sitting down across from her and watching as she played with a smile. “Enjoying your rattle, sweetie?” She asked, cooing a little bit.

       While the sight of a teenage girl wearing a diaper and shaking a rattle would be weird to anyone else, to the two girls in the room at the moment, it was absolutely adorable. "Yeah, I'm having a lot of fun!" Catarina said with a very infantile tone. 

    Giggling slightly at this, Mary smiled brighter and continued to watch eagerly. “I'm so happy to hear! But, hmm...maybe we should go into town later and get you even more toys~” Catarina had plenty now, but Mary did always love the sparkle in her eyes when she got new ones.

      "That sounds like a great idea, Mary!" Catarina cheered with the aforementioned sparkles in her eyes as she imagined all the new toys she could possibly get. "Sophia could come with us too, and we could get new books to read!" 

    “Yes, I'm sure there's plenty of new books for you to get.” Mary said. Plenty of new children’s books came out all the time, after all. “But for now, just keep playing with all your toys~”

       Catarina nodded, more than happy to keep playing with her toys as she set her rattle down and instead grabbed a plush, hugging it tightly to her chest and giggling childishly the whole time. 

    Of course, Mary just found the whole thing absolutely adorable, loving the sights and making sure to freeze them in her memory forever. A while passed while Catarina played with her toys, Mary watching all the while, occasionally picking up one of the toys to play along too.

     While Catarina was enjoying the playtime, she couldn't help but feel that she would be having a lot more fun if it was more than just her and Mary in the nursery… Sophia was one of Catarina’s caretakers too, after all. Not only that, but a certain girl Catarina had been keeping an eye on had shown up recently too… 

    And as if on cue, the sound of a knocking on the door spread throughout the room, alerting Mary to stand up and get it. “Don't worry, I'll go and see who it is. It's probably just Sophia.” She said as she walked over to the door and began to open it up, seeing, as expected, Sophia standing there...alongside another, blond girl.

     Catarina, of course, noticed that it was not just Sophia standing in the doorway. Looking over at the blonde girl, Catarina immediately recognized her as Maria Campbell, the protagonist of Fortune Lover and the girl she had been trying to keep an eye on. She was also a girl who had no idea Catarina acted like a baby in the privacy of her own room, so Catarina was at a loss for words as she just blushed and stared blankly at the two girls walking into the room.

    Sophia smiled towards Catarina, giving her a small wave as she closed the door behind her. “Hello there~” She cooed as though the diapered girl really was a baby. “Maria wanted to see you about something, so I thought I'd bring her along.”

    Of course, Maria was left practically frozen in shock as she looked around the room, staring towards Catarina in disbelief. “What...Lady Catarina, are you...you….” She began.

      “Oh, M-Maria! This is, uh… I can explain everything! Y-You see, uh… Well, the reason why I’m wearing this stuff is…” Catarina stuttered out, far too flustered to give any semblance of an actual explanation. She wasn’t expecting to see Maria now, especially not here of all places!

    However, as Catarina struggled and scrambled to find a proper reply and explanation, Maria continued to stare at her...before her eyes practically lit up. “You're...You're so adorable! I had no idea you liked to do this kind of thing!”

      Catarina’s expression turned blank in confusion for a second as Maria said the exact opposite of what she expected to hear at the moment. “You… You think I look cute, Maria?” She asked, trying to make sure she heard the girl right. 

    “Well of course I do! How could anyone not find you adorable when you're dressed like a baby?” Maria asked, cooing at her already, seemingly having immediately fell in love with the sight of her.

       This was hardly what Catarina was expecting from Maria seeing her like this, but at the same time, she wasn’t complaining. After all, that meant she was spared any embarrassment, AND she could distract Maria in the same way she had distracted Mary and Sophia. “Well, I’m glad! Maybe you’d want to help take care of me, then!”

    “If it means seeing you like this more often, then I'd love to be another one of your caretakers.” Maria said with a soft smile, Mary and Sophia giggling slightly as they heard this, knowing exactly how she felt.

      “Hehehe… Sounds great, then!” Catarina said, mentally cheering as she realized that now she was practically completely safe from her doom flags. After all, now the main protagonist of the game would be too distracted to pursue any romance! Her plan had worked perfectly! “Anyway, now that we’re all here, we should go outside! Mary was talking about buying some new toys for me!”

    Mary nodded as she began to prepare a diaper bag for the diapered girl, smiling towards the others as she placed it around her shoulder. “That's right, I'm going to go and get her some more toys. Want to come along?”

    Sophia began to head out the door once more while giving a nod of her own. “Sounds like a perfect way to spend the afternoon to me.” She said, Maria following her out the door while Mary finished preparing everything.

      Catarina was admittedly pretty excited to head out into town with all the girls, even if they were heading out to buy her baby toys and other infantile objects. “I can’t believe I have three caretakers now… Maria agreed to it so quickly!” She said with a bit of shock in her tone. “I didn’t expect to see her so soon…”

     Once they were all out the door, the three caretakers led the way, Maria staying right by Catarina’s side the entire time. She was tempted to begin holding her hand as though she were a real little kid, though refrained. That would probably raise more questions than it was worth. “So, what kind of toys do you like to play with?” She asked, barely raising her voice above a whisper.

       Catarina thought about it for a second, before smiling and whispering back. “My favorites are rattles. I love the noise they make when I shake them! But plushes are good too… And so are blocks… And toy keys… And fake instruments…” She continued to list off random toys, showing no signs of stopping anytime soon.

    Maria listened intently, giggling in amusement as she heard all of them. “Well, those all certainly sound like fun toys.” She said just to please the girl. “I'm sure that you'll find plenty of new toys to play with at the store.”

     “Yeah, I know the best stores to buy toys around here~” Catarina said, clearly getting more and more excited as time went on. This had gone well beyond just a plan to avoid her doom flags, and was now something she legitimately enjoyed doing. Good thing her mother still hadn’t found out about it…

    Before long, the group made it to one such toy store, and given Catarina’s excitement, it was probably one of her favorites. “Here we are.” Sophia said as she began to walk in, motioning for the others to follow.

      Of course, Catarina rushed in ahead of the others, already running around every single aisle of the toy store to look at every toy the shop had to offer. With this much energy, alongside the excited look on her face, Catarina truly did look like a hyper little girl right now…

    Maria giggled as she watched Catarina run around, not even trying to keep up with her. “She really is adorable.” She said to the others, who both nodded in agreement and with their own smiles.

    “Of course she is. She's been like this for a while now...shortly after we both met her, really.” Mary explained as she watched Catarina grab a few toys off the shelves. “And ever since I've enjoyed caring for her.”

     Sophia smiled at the explanation Mary had given. “Yes, we’ve been taking care of her like this for a long time… She’s so adorable when she’s laying in her crib, gently falling asleep as I read her a bedtime story.” She said with a soft blush beginning to paint her cheeks.

    “Really? She's even more of a baby than I thought...and that's just so cute~” Maria said, already imagining the sight in her head and knowing that she just had to see it. “Is there anything I should know before beginning to care for her?”

      “Well, she’s a very… active baby, as you can see.” Sophia said, bringing everyone’s attention back to Catarina for a moment, who was still running around with a boundless amount of energy. “So you have to keep an eye on her to make sure she doesn’t hurt herself.”

    “Oh, of course. In that case, I'll go over and stay by her side.” Maria said, before walking over to Catarina, watching as she grabbed an armful of toys. “You're certainly picking out a lot.” She said, though she supposed that she could have as many toys as she wanted. Both Catarina and her other two caretakers weren't exactly low on funds.

      “Well, how can I choose just a few of them? Every toy on the shelves looks like so much fun!” Catarina responded, bouncing up and down excitedly as she continued to grab more and more toys, showing no signs of stopping any time soon.

    Following after Catarina, Maria began to take a few toys off of the girl's hands, not wanting her to drop them all when it got to be too much. “J-Just remember to be careful while you're grabbing all of them, okay?”

      “Relax, everything’s fine! I can carry all these toys no problem!” Catarina said to reassure Maria… Only to trip a few steps later and drop everything she was carrying, her skirt even flying up to expose her diaper for a brief moment. Luckily none of the toys broke, but Catarina’s pride certainly did.

    Maria frowned as she saw this, and she and the others promptly began to go over and collect all of the fallen toys. “That was what we were trying to warn you about.” Maria said, giving a light scolding as she bent down to get a good look at Catarina. “Do you have any scrapes?”

     In truth, Catarina was perfectly fine. She had been through much heavier falls than that, and most of the plushes she had been carrying served to break her fall. But there was no fun in that, plus this would be a good moment for the other girls to “practice”. So, instead of answering Maria’s question, Catarina just began to let tears well up in her eyes, before starting to cry loudly, just like a real infant.

    Quickly realizing what Catarina was doing, Maria was quick to immediately begin pulling the girl into a soothing hug to calm her down. Of course, she gained a few strange looks from others in the store, but right now she was too preoccupied with calming the ‘baby’ down like a mother would. “There, there, don't cry…” She said softly.

      Catarina was almost instantly soothed as Maria pulled her into a hug, helped by the fact that she really wasn’t all that upset to begin with. She even began to suck her thumb as she was held in Maria’s embrace, acting like an actual baby to the best of her abilities.

    Maria smiled warmly and motherly as she held Catarina in her arms, clearly excited to help calm her down. Sophia watched with a soft smile, though she almost seemed jealous. “Well, she's certainly gotten used to this quickly.” She said.

    “She certainly has. In fact, I'd say that's she's a natural.” Mary replied as she went over to begin helping the two of them up and off of the floor. “Come on, get up you two.”

       Catarina was a bit upset that Mary was interrupting them, but she knew that they had to get everything paid for and then move onto their next destination, so she just nodded and took her thumb out of her mouth as she stood up. “Right, we need to pay for everything still…” She said as she gathered up what few toys were still on the ground.

    Nodding, Mary led her over towards the counter, where they placed all the toys down. The woman working there was certainly surprised by the sheer amount they were buying, but paid it no mind. They were probably all just for some baby, perhaps a sister of some of those girls. Right? It couldn't possibly be for any of them…

      Catarina had bounced back to her usual chipper self in no time flat, smiling with excitement as she watched all the toys get paid for. “I can’t wait to get back to my room and play with all this stuff!” She said, making it clear who these toys were meant for.

    The worker was shocked to hear such a thing as she placed all of the items into a few bags for the girl, handing them off to them as Mary paid for it. “H-Have a good day.” She said to them, unsure of how to react to such an odd group.

      Catarina, oblivious as ever, just happily skipped out of the store, the crinkling of her diaper now louder than ever to the poor worker, who had just realized the truth…

        Once they were outside the store, Catarina kept up her breakneck pace as she pointed down a nearby road. “Sophia, our favorite bookstore is down this road! We gotta go get more books!”

    Giving a smile towards Catarina, Sophia nodded and quickly followed right behind. “I'm sure there's plenty of good books we can pick up for you.” She said. Nothing she herself would have liked, but Catarina always did love those simple, childish fairy tales.

       Catarina showed no signs of slowing down anytime soon, continuing to run down the path with the energy one would expect from an excitable infant. Catarina was already so childish, it was easy to see her as such, after all… “Come on guys, hurry up! I wanna make sure we get all the good books before they’re gone!”

    “Somehow I doubt that some of those books are in particularly high demand, but I suppose we should get them quickly.” Mary said as she and the rest followed, making sure to go as fast as they could while still not drawing too much attention.

    Once they finally reached the book store, they all walked in together, Sophia right beside Catarina the whole time. She was the one that knew the most about these books, after all, and she could even pick out a few that appealed to her while looking at the ones Catarina enjoyed. “Tell me when you see one you like, sweetie.”

      Catarina’s eyes sparkled with excitement as she looked around at all the books that lined the shelves of the book store, and she quickly began to grab as many books from the child literature section as possible. Each one looked incredibly simplistic in both its cover design and the length of the book itself. “I want all of these ones!”

    It was quite a lot, but with their length, Catarina could get all of them done in about a day if she wanted. Luckily, she only seemed to read when Sophia read her a story to bed each night, which certainly helped to prolong their value. “All of them look like great books.” Sophia replied while grabbing a book for herself, something far too complicated for a baby like Catarina to read.

      Catarina smiled as Sophia praised her choice in books, already heading towards the front of the book store to wait for the rest of the girls so they could get everything paid for and go back to her nursery to enjoy all her new stuff. Even as she waited in the front, she was clearly impatient, as evident by her bouncing up and down as she stood there.

    After Sophia picked out all the books she wanted, with Mary and Maria even picking out some of their own to read in their down time, they returned back to Catarina and put all their books on the counter. “Don't be impatient, dear. They'll all be paid for soon, and I can read you one back at the academy.” Sophia said as she began to pay.

      “But I’m so excited!” Catarina said, sounding just a little bit whiny as she continued to bounce up and down impatiently. “I’m getting so much new stuff, and I can’t wait to play with it!” She exclaimed.

    “Well, I suppose I can't blame you. It all does look rather fun.” Maria said, if for no other reason than to feed into Catarina’s infantile attitude. All of the books were soon paid for, bagged up and ready to go. “Well, that should be everything here.”

       “Alright then, let’s get going back to the academy!” Catarina said, once again beginning to run off ahead of all the other girls as she began to head back in the direction of the school where her nursery was waiting for her.

    None of her three caretakers had any complaints with this, following after Catarina with excitement in their steps. It didn't take too long for them to reach the academy once more, all heading right back up to the diapered girl’s nursery.

      As soon as they were back into the nursery, Catarina took all the bags that contained her new toys and unceremoniously dumped the contents onto the floor, quickly sitting her padded rear down immediately afterwards and beginning to dig through the pile she had just made.

    Maria couldn't help but giggle a little as she saw this, sitting down across from her to watch. “So what toys are you going to play with first?” She asked as she watched Catarina dig through all of them.

     Catarina continued to dig through the pile for another few minutes, before eventually pulling out a small toy piano. “I’m gonna play with this!” She said as she set it down on the ground in front of her and began to randomly smack the keys. Clearly, any talent she had for playing the piano had gone out the window at the moment…

    No matter how harsh all of this ‘music’ was on all of their ears, the girls did not dare raise any complaints, just smiling as though it was the best thing they had ever heard. “Y-Your piano playing only gets better and better, Catarina.” Mary said as she resisted the urge to cover her ears.

      Catarina smiled as her excellent piano playing was complimented. Since everyone loved it so much, that obviously meant she needed to keep playing! So she did just that, continuing to “play” the piano for another 15 minutes or so, with just as much energy as when she started.

    By this point, all of them were beginning to wince from the painful noises, Maria reaching out to place a hand on Catarina’s shoulder. “H-Hey, why don't you play with something else? I think that's enough piano playing for now…”

      “Huh? But I thought you guys liked my piano playing…” Catarina responded. However, even with this complaint, she still obeyed regardless, pushing the piano away and grabbing a nearby block puzzle. It was the classic puzzle of “fit the blocks into the correctly-shaped holes”, and Catarina was confident she could get them all right on the first try. “Hey, everyone! Watch how smart I am!” Catarina called out to the three other girls.

    Looking towards Catarina, they all knew exactly what she was going to do, and they all wanted a look at how adorable it would all be. “I'm sure you'll get it without any problems.” Mary said as she watched eagerly.

     Catarina smiled confidently and puffed out her chest for a moment, before grabbing the square block, and placing it into the hole it was meant to go in with one swift movement. ...Or at least, that was the intention, as instead of the block sliding into the hole, Catarina just heard the sound of the block colliding with the puzzle and not actually sliding in. 

       Confused, but assuming she just missed the hole, she tried again, only to get the same result. So she tried again. And again. And again. But no matter how many attempts she made, the square block would not fit into the triangle hole.

    Naturally, Mary and the others were sent into a fit of amused giggles, though they tried to hold back a little to not make Catarina feel bad. “Just keep trying, sweetie. I'm sure you'll get it soon.” She said, not even attempting to try and correct her on what shape should go where. Or the basic logic of how shapes fit into other shapes.

     Catarina continued to try and force the block to go into the hole she thought it was meant to be in over and over again, getting a bit more forceful with each failed attempt. When her efforts still amounted to nothing, instead of trying a different hole, she just threw the block onto the ground and pouted. “This stupid toy is broken!”

    “Oh, come on, you just need to take a break and try again later.” Maria said as she picked the block up off of the ground and put it with the others. “I'm sure you'll get it eventually.”

      “I had it already! The toy just doesn’t work! You saw it, right, Mary? Sophia? I had the exact right hole, but the block wouldn’t go in! It’s the toy’s fault, not mine!” Catarina whined as she crossed her arms and pouted.

    “Come on, sweetie, don't pout.” Sophia said as she wrapped Catarina into a hug from behind to calm her down. “We just need to get you some...simpler toys from now on.” Not that it was a complicated toy to start with, but still.

      Catarina just huffed a little bit, but she returned the hug anyway before breaking away from Sophia and going back to her pile of toys, this time pulling out a simple plush cat and hugging it tightly to destress from that obviously faulty toy.

    Maria couldn't help but smile as she watched, turning towards Mary. “She's even cuter than I thought she would be. She's absolutely adorable like this...and I had no idea. She hides it well when she's in the halls at school.”

    “She does...though, that's mainly because Sophia and I are always by her to make sure of that.” Mary replied with an embarrassed chuckle. “But I agree. I can't imagine her being any other way.”

      Sophia nodded at Mary’s words. “I can’t imagine her any other way either. She’s far too cute like this, and us having to take care of her means we get to see her all the time! It’s paradise…” She said with a satisfied sigh and smile.

    “We certainly are lucky.” Mary said as she continued to watch Catarina play. It was such an adorable sight, one she would never possibly tire of. There was nothing that could ruin perfect moments like this.

      However, as Mary said this, the moment would become decidedly less adorable, as Catarina suddenly stopped playing, lifted her rear up, and pushed a rather large mess into her diaper. Of course, the smell hit the air almost immediately, but Catarina had long since grown used to it, so she didn’t react at all, just sitting back down and going back to playing with her toys.

    Blushing as she watched Catarina casually soil herself with nearly no reaction, Maria looked towards the others, who seemed hardly phased. “O-Oh, somehow I had forgotten that babies...use their diapers…” She said.

    “Oh, yes...she doesn't have much control anymore, really.” Mary said as though it was a normal thing, and for the three of them, it was. “Well, if you're going to be a caretaker now...then I suppose you should take a turn at changing her diaper, right? It would be good to get in the practice.”

    Although not particularly too keen on this idea, Maria nonetheless nodded while going over towards Catarina, fanning her nose as she approached. “C-Come on, Catarina. Let's go and get your diaper changed, okay?”

     Catarina turned towards Maria as the girl came closer, and simply smiled as she stood up, seeing no problem with going to get her diaper changed right now. “Sure thing, Maria! I’m surprised you’re the one who wanted to do it, considering you’re new to this and everything!”

    “Well, it's not really something I want to do, but…” Maria muttered to herself as she led Catarina over to the changing table, helping her up and onto it before grabbing the changing supplies. “Now then, let's start…” She said, before starting to untape the soiled diaper.

      Catarina didn’t object to this at all, simply humming to herself as she waited for the diaper change to be over with so she could go back to playing with her toys. After all, she had long since grown used to getting her diaper changed, so it was nothing new to her.

    Taking some wipes and cleaning Catarina up as thoroughly as she possibly could, Maria then promptly began to sprinkle baby powder around the girl’s waist. Afterwards, she grabbed a new diaper, slid it underneath Catarina’s bottom, and then taped it up. “There! All done!” She said as she disposed of the used diaper and wipes.

      “Thank you, Maria!” Catarina said, hopping off the changing table and giving Maria a quick hug before going back to her pile of toys, sitting down in front of it once more and grabbing a rattle this time, beginning to shake it happily.

    The girls all continued to watch Catarina play, all truly enjoying the sight before them. However, after a while, they would see the infantile girl begin to slow down, a yawn escaping from her. “Oh? Tired?” Sophia asked as she walked over.

      “A little bit…” Catarina said with another yawn as she rubbed her eyes sleepily. “Is it naptime yet? I wanna go to bed…” She muttered, already beginning to lay down right there on the floor.

    Beginning to lift Catarina up, with some help from Mary, Sophia carried her over towards her crib and began to place her into it. “Of course...why don't I read you a story from one of your new books before you go to sleep, dear?”

      Catarina nodded in response to Sophia’s proposal, though it was unclear how long she’d be able to even stay awake to hear the story, as she was already beginning to fall asleep as she was laid into her crib, sucking her thumb gently as her eyes grew heavier and heavier.

    Taking a seat in a simple chair she had set up by the crib, Sophia picked up one of the books and began to read. “Once upon a time…” It was a simple fairy tale, dealing with princesses and adventures and whatnot, but it was the exact kind of thing that Catarina loved.

      Catarina listened to the story intently for as long as she could, but about halfway through the book, Sophia would notice that Catarina had finally fallen asleep, still sucking her thumb as she laid peacefully in her crib, sleeping soundly and calmly.

    Slowly closing the book, Sophia smiled and set it down, before standing up and beginning to walk out of the room. “Let's let her sleep.” She said as she began to leave.

    Maria followed right after, Mary directly behind her. “I never knew how fun it could be to take care of a baby… well, I suppose it helps when that baby is Catarina.” Maria said with a giggle as she walked out.

    “It certainly does.” Mary said as she shut the lights off and began to close the door behind her. “I'm sure that you'll love being another one of her caretakers~”