Teacher. Ta-da!
Hehe. I wonder what expression the teacher would make if Sarina suddenly popped out from here and said, "Surprise!"
Because he would definitely remember Sarina. Even if I became someone else... I’m sure the teacher would recognize Sarina at a glance.
There are so many things I want to talk about when we meet.
You know! If I told him I was reincarnated as [Ai]’s daughter, I’m so curious what kind of face the teacher would make?
He’d definitely be so shocked he’d hop around in circles. Maybe he’d glare at Sarina with jealous eyes, telling me not to lie?
And... there are so many things I want to do with the teacher, too.
I’m still little, but I don’t hurt like I used to!
I’m super healthy! I can bother the teacher all day long. I’m not the old Sarina who could only lie in a hospital bed!
So... until I meet Sarina, teacher, please stay healthy, okay?
Because I’m definitely, absolutely coming to see you!
The things I couldn’t say in my last life. I’ll make sure to tell them to the teacher. All of them. Right to the very end.
Promise! （♥＞ω＜♥）
From. Tendouji Sarina, who always thinks about the teacher—
Now Hoshino Ruby, the cute daughter of Hoshino Ai.
"What are you doing?"
"Eep—?!"
Ruby, who had been gazing fondly at the words she had carefully written on the stationery, jumped in surprise at the voice from behind her.
She hurriedly bent her upper body forward to hide the letter, and with her face bright red, she yelled, "Hey! What are you barging in here for and ruining my time?! Get out! Get out! Pervert! Freak!"
"...Th-that’s pretty harsh."
For something said to her own blood relative... her older brother... it was a little too affectionate(?), and Aqua couldn’t ignore the damage from the arrow that had pierced his chest. He awkwardly scratched his cheek.
...He had only come in to tell her dinner was ready.
She was only five this year, but... as a reincarnator, was it his fault for not knowing knocking was basic manners?
"......"
Aqua silently watched his little sister, who was huffing and puffing as she folded the letter neatly and stuffed it deep into the drawer.
He looked at Ruby’s ears, still red, and the letter being hidden away with a strange expression.
Then Ruby jabbed a finger at him and growled like an angry rabbit.
"If you go snooping through Ruby’s drawer, that’ll be your second round of reincarnation!"
"......I’ll keep that in mind."
Aqua had already been brought back to life once, and he had no desire to die twice, so he nodded at once and left the room after soothing his angry little sister.
"Thank you for the meal~!"
"Thank you for the meal."
Aqua and Ruby put down their chopsticks and thanked them at the same time. Watching the twins grow bigger and cuter by the day, like a puppy and a baby rabbit, Kaoru also smiled warmly and nodded.
"I’m glad you ate everything. Dad’s happy. Thanks, Aqua. Ruby."
"Heheh—"
With a shy, starry smile just like her mother’s, Ruby hurried off to her room. Watching her go, Aqua chuckled and tidied up Ruby’s bowl and chopsticks too, placing them on the sink.
Aqua had grown a little taller, enough that if he stood on tiptoe he could put the dishes up himself, so he now carried his own dishes over.
But sometimes Kaoru worried that Aqua’s overly mature, grown-up behavior—so unlike other children his age—might be because he and Ai weren’t doing a proper job as parents.
It was nice that the mature Aqua understood his parents’ feelings and took care of his twin sister, but as a father, Kaoru honestly wished his little son would act spoiled sometimes, throw tantrums like other kids, and cry without worrying about the world.
"Good boy. My son."
"N-no, it’s nothing... Dad."
Blushing, Aqua smiled shyly and trotted off to Kaoru’s private study to read a book.
Watching that, Kaoru once again felt relieved that his worries had probably been unnecessary after all.
"Phew."
After finishing dinner and cleaning up the dishes, Kaoru sat down on the sofa for a moment.
As usual, he sent Ai a text saying he had fed the twins dinner and not to worry, then opened the camping magazine he had recently become interested in, which was lying on the living room table.
In the midst of a busy daily life, it was the quietest moment of his "personal" time.
Many people told the couple, who took turns adjusting schedules and caring for the twins, that they were overdoing it and should hire a housekeeper, since they were busy enough already.
But neither Kaoru nor Ai wanted to leave the twins with someone they didn’t know.
Strictly speaking, Ai’s priority was "parental responsibility," while Kaoru’s was "parental safety."
Even if it was hard and inconvenient, they had made the obvious choice for the twins’ sake.
"......"
Every time he looked, he thought the same thing: there were so many places to go camping in Japan, too. Kaoru read the magazine for a while without noticing time passing.
Then he looked with interest at the catalog of camper vans and camping gear tucked in as an insert, closed the magazine, and stood up from the sofa.
He laid a small mat on the floor as usual, stretched his arms and shoulders, and set a timer on his phone.
"......Hehe."
Ruby had been in the middle of finishing her letter when her twin brother barged in without warning, so she had no choice but to shove it into the drawer.
But after dinner, Aqua always went to Papa’s private study and got lost in reading, so no one would disturb her now!!!
Even if she wasn’t going to send it—
She hugged the letter to her chest, smiling as she carefully gathered the words she had treasured only in her heart.
All the things she wanted to say when she met the teacher.
"...He won’t suddenly come bursting in again, right?"
Ruby checked the doorway with a still-wary look, then gently placed the letter back deep inside the drawer.
Besides the letter she had just finished, several other letters were neatly stacked inside, still undelivered.
Ruby closed the drawer, stretched her arms high, then stepped down from the tiny child-sized chair that fit her still-small height and opened the door.
"Huff! Huff!"
"?"
Hearing the rough but steady breathing from the living room, Ruby walked out with a playful smile.
"Hee!? Papa—!"
"Ah, Ruby?"
Kaoru, who had been doing push-ups on the mat, spotted Ruby and knelt down.
He had tied up his bangs with a rubber hair tie to keep them from hanging in his face, and he smiled gently as he said, "Haa—haa—Did Ruby come out to exercise with Papa too?"
"Mm~ No? Do that! That thing!"
"That thing? Hahaha! Ruby wants to do it by herself? You don’t want to do it with your brother?"
"Ruby wants to do it alone. If I cling on tight like a cicada, it’ll be fine."
"Haha! Okay, okay. Got it. Hold on a second."
Kaoru burst out laughing, then lay flat on the mat and nodded to his daughter. Eyes sparkling, Ruby quickly climbed onto Kaoru’s broad back.
Clutching Kaoru’s shoulders tightly and striking a pose like the Sphinx, Ruby pounded his shoulders and shouted, "Ruby! Ready!"
"Good! Let’s go!"
At his adorable daughter’s cry, Kaoru slowly started doing push-ups. Going up and down felt like riding an amusement attraction.
Because her body was that of a small child, even the slightest movement up and down felt huge. Ruby burst into delighted laughter and shouted while gripping Kaoru’s shoulders tightly.
"Faster!"
"All right, hold on tight!"
"Kyaaah!"
Kaoru sped up his push-ups. The muscles in his arms bulged hard, veins standing out. As the pace increased, Ruby got even more excited and screamed like she was on a ride.
"Faster! Higher! Kya-hahaha!"
In her previous life, Ruby had never once played like this with her parents, and she ended up laughing with genuine happiness.
Always in a hospital room, at a hospital, in a bed. Because of her sickly body, she had never been able to do much, and she had never really been able to share affection and love with her parents.
For Ruby, Kaoru was always a reliable and gentle father, a protector, a playmate, and a fun toy(?).
"Huff! Huff! Huff!"
It should have been tiring, but Kaoru didn’t look exhausted at all. Since regaining his memories, he had exercised steadily for nearly ten years, and his stamina was like that of an untiring wild horse.
Besides, Ruby was enjoying it so much! The hot-blooded Papa Kaoru kept doing push-ups for more than two minutes without stopping.
"Ugh—? P-Papa—ugh—enough already—! I’m dizzy!"
Ruby, who had actually grown tired first, clutched Kaoru’s shoulders and declared defeat. Since she wasn’t riding with Aqua, Kaoru hadn’t worn himself out so easily.
Ruby climbed down from Kaoru’s back with a pale face and steadied her queasy stomach by holding onto the sofa.
It was fun, but thanks to her far too enthusiastic father, she had gotten motion sickness.
"Do you want a turn, Aqua?"
At Kaoru’s voice, Ruby, who was sweating coldly, looked up.
"......I-I’m okay. Aren’t you tired?"
Who knew when he had come out of the study—he had clearly been watching the whole time while pretending not to. Embarrassed, Aqua blushed and waved both hands frantically, shaking his head.
Even so, no matter how much he waved them off, Aqua’s blue eyes were shouting the truth.
'Idiot. It’s so obvious.'
Ruby had already noticed that Aqua’s refusal wasn’t sincere.
Kaoru smiled brightly and lay flat on the mat.
"Son. Get on!"
"......"
"It’s fine. Dad’s super strong."
Kaoru half rose and flexed his arms.
If anyone heard that, they might snort and think it was just a father’s usual bragging in front of his children.
But Aqua and Ruby, unlike his usual cool image, swallowed hard as they remembered his enormous, bulging arm muscles—and the fact that Kaoru had once effortlessly thrown a 100-kilogram man who had been holding a kitchen knife.
"Yes. I’ll do it."
Aqua ran over at once and climbed onto Kaoru’s broad back. Like Ruby, he gripped Kaoru’s shoulders and took the Sphinx pose.
'...What? You were watching from the start.'
Ruby glared at him with cold, narrowed eyes, her face red with embarrassment and excitement.
So he had been pretending not to notice. He must have been watching her from the moment she climbed onto Kaoru’s back.
Hmph. Ruby snorted and looked at Papa, who was smiling as he started doing push-ups enthusiastically, and at her twin brother, whose eyes were wide with excitement as he smiled from Kaoru’s back.
"Huff! Huff! How is it, Aqua!"
"Oh, ooh—! W-wow! So fast?! It’s really fast?! Ahahaha!"
Ah. Seeing how much fun he was having.
Now that the motion sickness had settled... I want to do it again!
"...R-Ruby wants to ride too!"
"Really? Okay. Then, hold on a second."
Kaoru fetched every sofa cushion he could find and arranged them all around them in case the children fell and got hurt, then carefully repositioned the twins.
"We’re starting! Hold on tight!"
"Kyaaah!"
"Waaah!"
"Huff! Huff!"
Kaoru continued doing push-ups with the twins on his back. He was starting to feel it a little, but still, hearing the twins’ cheers as they enjoyed themselves—
"Huff!"
Father Kaoru sweated buckets for his children.
"I’m home... eeh?! What is this?!"
Ai, who had come in through the front door after her schedule ended earlier than planned, stared wide-eyed at the scene unfolding in the living room, her starry eyes sparkling in shock.
"Waaah!"
"Kyaaah! Ruby! Ruby, I-I’m flying! Kyaaah—!"
Kaoru, his muscular upper body fully exposed and drenched in sweat, had locked his arms in a biceps pose and was spinning in place with Ruby hanging from his left arm and Aqua from his right.
Both Aqua and Ruby were screaming in delight, unable to contain themselves.
At the shocking sight... Ai stood frozen, her mouth hanging open, not even noticing that the shoulder bag she had been carrying had slipped from her shoulder and fallen softly to the floor.
Then, as if anger suddenly surged up inside her, she puffed out her cheeks and shouted with her brows furrowed in an angry 八 shape, "I want to do it too!!!!!!!"
At Ai’s cry, Kaoru froze mid-spin, with the twins dangling from him.
"Mama!"
"Mama!"
Then the twins turned to Ai and shouted with blooming smiles.
Kaoru, who had thought he was about to get scolded by his wife for doing something dangerous, looked at Ai hurrying toward him and shouted in surprise, "W-wait! Ai!"
"You’re only having fun with the three of you! I want to play too!"
"Kyaaah! Mama! Use this arm!"
"Mom! Wait, am I going to fall?!"
In the end, Kaoru ended up spinning around with all three of them hanging off him, including his wife.
He felt like a human top.
"Kyaaah~☆"
"Papa! Faster! Faster!"
"Waaah!"
Just like his wife, who was laughing like a child, even the twins were thrilled out of their minds.
"Hoooo!!!!"
Father and husband Kaoru showed no sign of being tired, even as sweat poured down like a waterfall.
If the head of the household worked up a sweat and made his wife and children happy...!
That was it!!!
[Happiness]!
The image of President Toshiro giving a thumbs-up flashed through Kaoru’s mind.
The next day, it was very hard to get up in the morning—but still...
Well... it didn’t matter.
Comments (0)
Please log in to leave a comment. Login or Register