“But even in my class, the real Ojou-samas are like this. There are Ojou-samas in Yuzu’s kindergarten too, and she’s cute anyway, so isn’t it fine!”
“You’re right! Yuzu is cute so it’s fine!”
Is it fine?
“…Kofu.”
While watching the banter of my two older siblings, a cough escaped me. Maybe the fever hasn’t completely healed, and since I was apparently weak to begin with, it can’t be helped.
But, Oba-onii-chan and Koto-chan reacted to my small cough.
“Are you okay!? Shall I go harvest some honey!?”
Where do you intend to go to harvest honey?
“In that case, I’ll bake hotcakes! Though there is only okonomiyaki flour in the kitchen!”
What does Koto-chan intend to make!?
The two, who seem to be competing yet are strangely in sync, check each other.
No, anyway, honey is just sweet, and hotcakes (with dashi stock in them) will surely be like a sweet sponge.
“I’ll handle this!”
“No, I will!”
“No, I’m somehow already full so I’m going to sleep.”
It seemed helpless, so I forcibly had them leave before the damage could spread any further.
What damage, you ask? To me!
But… I definitely think “I” am weird.
I know knowledge I shouldn’t know, I don’t get hungry even if I don’t eat, and I don’t feel umami in food.
As I lay down on the cute bed in my fancy room, Koto-chan lay down next to me until I fell asleep. But, how should I put it… Koto-chan smelled sweet like fruit…
And I thought she looked very “delicious.”
It was over a week later that I got permission from my family to go out.
It was long… Life without videos or books was longer than I imagined, and I didn’t even go to kindergarten during that time.
That’s right… I was actually a kindergartner! (Dun dun!)
What was that sound effect just now?
Come to think of it, Koto-chan said she was a kindergartner too. Anyway, apparently I am a kindergartner, but with a face like this, how am I supposed to attend kindergarten?
“Well then, did you bring your handkerchief? Wear your hat too.”
“Oka~y.”
So we are going out, but the destination isn’t kindergarten. They are worried about suddenly letting me out into a space the family can’t watch, so first, we decided to go for an outing nearby.
Koto-chan is going to accompany me as my big sister for the outing. That makes me happy but… Koto-chan, what about school? Today is a weekday, you know?
“There is nothing more important than an outing with Yuzu!”
“Ah, okay.”
If she doesn’t go out with me, the “important thing” ceases to exist. That’s tricky.
By the way, Oba-onii-chan wanted to come too, but apparently, he has exams at high school today, so he went there in tears. Obviously.
As a replacement, or perhaps I shouldn’t say it like that, the driver is coming along as a bodyguard.
…Eh? Driver? Bodyguard? Am I really a young lady of a good family? (Suspicion)
“Koto-chan, what work does our family do?”
“Um… A flour shop?”
No kindergartner can understand that.
I thought maybe we ran a restaurant, but it seems we handle the ingredients supplied to them.
A food processing company? We handle imported wheat flour, make pasta and noodles, and coordinate with major meat corporations for product development. Apparently, we run a company with about five hundred employees, including part-timers.
Father is the President, and Mother is the Advertising Manager? Is it a family business?
We aren’t a purely illustrious family or mega-tycoons, but Grandfather grew the company in one generation, creating enough connections in high society to get Oba-onii-chan and Koto-chan into famous private schools, which is why we needed a car with a driver for commuting.
Socializing in rich society is a pain. I didn’t realize it because inside the house, the family just wolfed down nattou rice normally.
By the way… did you know?
Natto without umami is just rotten, smelly beans.
The topic drifted massively, but anyway, we went on an outing for my rehabilitation.
If I were a real Ojou-sama, I suppose I’d wear custom-made clothes even for a neighborhood outing, but these are properly ready-made.
Still, they seem to be famous brands, but feeling that it’s a waste to dress a toddler whose size changes every six months in such things proves I am surely of the common people.
That aside, Koto-chan and I headed to a Metropolitan Park about thirty minutes away by car. That is not the neighborhood at all. The car isn’t a super-luxury car, but a high-end one in the high seven-figure range.
As for why we went to such a distant place just to play in a park, the reason was that a park with many people and managed by stationed staff is safer.
…Isn’t that a bit too overprotective? Will I get kidnapped or something?
“You might not remember because you were small, but Yuzu is cute, so you’ve almost been kidnapped twice, you know? You’re also prone to accidents, so be careful.”
“Okay…”
No wonder I was made to carry a kid’s mobile terminal.
According to Koto-chan, both attempts failed. The first time, surrounding adults subdued the criminal, and the second time, Oba-onii-chan, who was with me, made a scene and managed it somehow. I don’t really understand the accidents. Was it falling asleep at the wheel?
Come to think of it, since I became like this, I occasionally feel a gaze… I thought it was my imagination since no one was there when I turned around, but… was I wrong? Well, I’m at home most of the time so it should be fine.
“…………”
I feel a slight incongruity in the familiar town scenery flowing outside the car window.
How troublesome, this confusion of memories. Will this really settle down?
While thinking about such things and chatting idly with Koto-chan and the driver, we arrived at the Metropolitan Park. The driver dropped Koto-chan and me at the park entrance and went to park in a nearby lot. Huh? What about the guard? Well, it can’t be helped. The driver is an old man anyway.
It’s a large park, but naturally, unlike in a certain ‘Merican country, there are no people sunbathing in swimsuits on the lawn. Instead, there are madams jogging with grim faces, and madams being dragged around by several giant dogs on walks.
Perhaps because it’s a big park, there are many people, and the stalls were selling soft-serve ice cream and hot dogs.
“Yuzu, what do you want to play?”
“I will run.”
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At my answer, Koto-chan froze for a moment. After all, I had been rolling around in bed for over a week. It’s natural to worry if my legs have weakened.
“We should have brought a toy for exercise.”
“Like what?”
“Like a frisbee?”
Please stop. I can’t catch it. Do not underestimate my clumsiness. I can’t even fold origami cleanly, you know?
“For now, I’ll just try running.”
“Don’t go far!”
I can’t run far so it’s fine. For some reason, my stride didn’t match and I fell a few times, but it’s grass so it doesn’t hurt. While rolling around a few times, I got used to running.
However… I have way too little stamina. Being sickly is part of it, but isn’t it a problem that I run out of breath just running or walking a mere hundred meters?
I need to walk regularly to build stamina. Koto-chan, who was watching nervously as I fell at first, seems relieved now that I can run normally, so let’s continue a bit more.
“…Ah.”
Thinking that, I turned around, and a small voice escaped me at what I saw.
A few meters in front of me, a middle-aged man with low scalp defense was walking a large, muscular dog with short hair.
Um… is this a dog allowed to be kept in Japan? Walking a dog that looks like a hunting dog or a fighting dog in a park with children like this—isn’t that lacking ethics, let alone manners?
“Yuzu!”
While running, I had gotten a little separated from Koto-chan. Noticing the dog at the same time I did, Koto-chan panicked and started running toward me.
But neither Koto-chan’s panicked voice nor my small existence was noticed by the owner. The dog, with the current length of the lead, was close enough to pounce on me.
People like this are everywhere. While understanding that a large dog can easily bite a child to death, they believe that as long as they, the owner, are there, it’s fine. They believe without basis that their pet, who is docile at home, would never do such a thing.
[…Grrr.]
The large dog looks at me and gives a low growl.
I also stare back at the dog.
A big black dog… but, I’m not scared.
I gently reached out my hand and smiled softly as if speaking to it.
Here, come. You don’t have to be so frightened… there is nothing to be afraid of.
[Whimper!?]
“Elizabeth-chan!?”
Suddenly, the dog let out a pathetic cry, jumped at its owner, and as if dragging the bewildered old man, ran away somewhere and vanished in the blink of an eye.
“”…………””
Koto-chan, who was mid-run, and I, with my hand still outstretched, froze with confused expressions. …What on earth does this mean!?
“…Anyway, shall we go home for today?”
“…Yeah.”
Koto-chan said that with a somewhat tired face, and since I also felt emotionally beaten down, I nodded obediently.
Um… what was that? That makes it look like I was the one scaring the dog!
It’s strange for me to say this, but I am a harmless, pure, and innocent beautiful young lady! I don’t understand it at all. The world is unreasonable.
“So, please prepare the car.”
“…Understood, Ojou-sama.”
I ask the driver, who had just parked the car, to bring it back again.
No, really, I’m sorry! I’ll give you a shoulder massage later!
“Shall we buy some juice at the stall?”
“…Water, please.”
“Eh… come on, you want something sweet by now, right? Right? Let’s go buy some!”
Apparently, Koto-chan wants to drink some. I will pass. After all, juice without umami is harder to drink than saltwater.
“Well then, something random… What’s wrong? Yuzu.”
Koto-chan, about to go buy drinks, notices my state.
“Yeah… I heard a voice.”
I heard something like a voice from far away, and I turned my eyes in that direction.
“A voice…? Which voice?”
The surroundings are overflowing with the voices of people in the park. But, that’s not it. Much farther… I heard it again. It’s getting closer… The sound of something breaking… and—
Someone’s scream—!
“I don’t really understand but… anyway, I’ll go buy drinks before the car comes.”
“Koto-chan, wait!”
CRASH CRASH CRASH!!
The moment I tried to stop her, crushing the shrubbery and trees next to the stall, a large truck drove into the park.
“──Hii.”
Koto-chan, who was heading to the stall, froze, legs trembling at the truck that suddenly appeared and was closing in.
Screams of people from the surroundings. The truck heads straight for us without slowing down.
“Koto-chan!”
“Don’t come, Yuzu! Run!”
Koto-chan screams as I try to run to her.
──The sound vanishes.
The surrounding scenery flows slowly.
In that world, my eyes meet the truck driver’s.
With foam at the mouth twisted into a smile, his cloudy eyes that couldn’t focus were looking only at “Me.”
Clearly, he isn’t sane.
And clearly, he was looking only at me… targeting only “Me.”
Koto-chan clings to me to protect me as I run up to her.
Realizing her body is trembling… strong emotions well up from within me for Koto-chan, who is still trying to protect me.
──What are you doing to my “Onee-chan”──
In that instant, looking over the shoulder of Koto-chan who was clinging to me, the face of the insane driver twisted in terror, and as if frightened by something, the pigeons and small birds in the park took flight all at once.
The looming truck closed in right before our eyes, and I softly…
Caught the truck with one hand.
KA-BOOM!!
Like a car colliding head-on with a train. Like a two-wheeler hitting a giant stake buried in the ground. Unable to resist the impact that caved in its front, the truck bounced up as if vaulting over us, scraping the park lawn as it rolled sideways for dozens of meters.
Sound returns, and screams and angry roars are heard.
In that confusion, pulling the hand of Koto-chan who was dumbfounded and unable to understand what had happened, we left the park before getting involved in the trouble.
This “power”…
What is happening to me?
TLNOTE:
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