"Humming~♬"
Kaoru glanced softly at his wife sitting in the front passenger seat on his left. On the child’s face, as they headed to watch the twins’ first observation class, anticipation and excitement bloomed as brightly as a sunflower.
A smile curved at the corners of her mouth. Today, she looked even more beautiful than usual, with a face that combined maturity and cuteness.
She was dressed neatly in a women’s suit, but with a pretty white hairpin as an accent and a beige luxury handbag Miyako had picked out for her placed tidily on her lap, she faced forward in the car.
Smiling in satisfaction at his prettied-up wife, Kaoru stepped on the accelerator as the light changed and said, "That hairpin looks nice."
"Oh? Hehe—does it suit me?"
"Of course. Who picked it? It matches your hair color, so it looks really pretty."
"Humming~♥"
Praise could make even whales dance. The same was true for the child who had been told she looked pretty by her husband.
She touched the hairpin once with her right hand and smiled happily, her face lightly flushed.
Kaoru stopped the car at a red light and, while they waited, reached over to carefully smooth his wife’s hair with gentle fingers as he asked, "Are you excited?"
"Mm-hm. I was so excited I could barely sleep, and I got scolded for it. I’m super excited. I’m nervous, my heart’s pounding—just imagining Aqua and Ruby studying hard and raising their hands to ask the teacher questions makes me go, kyaaa—★ They’re going to be so cute!"
"Hahaha."
The child’s starry eyes sparkled as she bounced in her seat.
She was so thrilled, fists clenched tight, that she looked less like a parent going to an observation class and more like a student waiting for her own parents to come.
Was she really that happy? Kaoru remembered how, even at the twins’ kindergarten recital, she had been so excited she hadn’t been able to sleep properly.
For her, life after giving birth to the twins was a life filled with the joy and happiness of being a mother.
Smiling, Kaoru turned the wheel gently to the right and checked the back seat in the rearview mirror, confirming that Ame had fallen asleep in the child seat.
"……"
Ame was so deeply asleep that she probably wouldn’t notice if someone carried her off. Her sleeping face vaguely resembled the child and Ruby. Unlike the twins, Ame slept a lot.
Kaoru looked at Ame for a moment, then focused back on driving.
"Ah, I can see it!"
About five minutes later, the couple arrived in front of the school, where large buildings stood behind the gate plaque reading Shiroyama Gakuin Elementary Division.
As expected of a prestigious private school run as a single-track institution, it had a spacious grassy field and a cluster of large, neatly kept buildings.
Since it was their first visit to the school since the entrance ceremony, both the child and Kaoru took in the scenery beyond the gate, already tinted with autumn colors.
The parking lot was packed with parents’ cars for the first-grade observation class.
Ordinary parents were usually too busy with dual-income jobs to come, or only one of them would show up—but as expected of a prestigious school attended by the children of the upper class, the fierce competition among parents was already visible.
"Phew. There’s no spot…"
But Kaoru, who didn’t care about that sort of thing, only furrowed his brow slightly because there was nowhere to park.
Apparently the child hadn’t expected there to be this many cars either, and she looked around with Kaoru for an empty space in the lot.
"Ah! Kaoru, over there!"
"Oh! Nice catch, Ai."
Thanks to Ai’s sharp eyes, Kaoru quickly parked the car.
In the cool autumn weather, Ai was in such a good mood that she linked arms with Kaoru’s left arm—the one opposite the arm holding sleeping Ame—and walked lightly into the school with him.
-
"Aqua!"
"Aqua!"
"Are your parents coming today!?"
"Ruby!"
"Ruby!"
"Are Ruby’s mom and dad coming today?"
The popular siblings of Class 1-A—no, the most popular siblings in the whole school, Aqua and Ruby—were already getting sick of the questions they had been hearing nonstop since morning.
They’re coming. They’re coming. How many times do we have to say it?!
Still, their classmates were just kids… naturally, they were still young, so they giggled innocently with sparkling eyes.
"It’s my first time seeing Ruby’s mom and dad! I’ve only ever seen them on TV!"
"My big brother’s a huge fan of Aqua’s mom. He keeps begging me and my mom to get her autograph!"
"K, K, Kamiki Kaoru… I’m finally going to meet himmmm~♥"
Already, in one corner of the classroom, friends had gathered and were talking excitedly, looking forward to the semi-fan meeting(?) that would begin soon.
Aqua brushed his hair back and sighed, smacking his lips.
Ruby had even buried her head on her desk and was lying there, answering the barrage of questions with fake sleep(?).
She had definitely been happy at the thought of her parents coming, hadn’t she?!
Just as Kaoru and Ai were attending their first parents’ observation class in their lives, Aqua and Ruby were also experiencing their first parents’ observation class ever, so it was true that they had been excited and nervous.
In the realm of schoolwork, an essential part of the ordinary daily life that they had never experienced in their past lives as a family—
Kaoru and Ai naturally had to occupy a large share of attention as parents.
"Snore, snore~ Ah~ snore~ I’m sleepy~"
Ruby, putting on a halfhearted sleeping act, had even asked Aqua directly for advice on what questions to ask the teacher during the observation class and written out a question list.
She usually didn’t pay much attention in class when the teacher was just going over things she already knew, but since the observation class had inconveniently been scheduled during math—
Ruby was fired up, wanting to show her favorite and second-favorite the lovable, cute, and smart daughter who participated diligently in class—
"……If Mama and Papa come in, the kids might end up looking at the lockers instead of the blackboard…"
Their parents’ popularity had already far surpassed the level Aqua and Ruby had expected.
Who would’ve thought that a bunch of first-grade kids would know Kaoru and Ai’s ages and even the details of their most recent works by heart?
At this rate… Ruby’s grand plan would be reduced to nothing.
"Big brother…"
"What is it?"
Aqua, who had been quietly watching his younger twin, smiled faintly.
Smile.
With his past-life gentleness and warmth, plus a beautiful face that looked just like Papa’s, added on top of that.
Ruby, who had been hit head-on by that smile, shut her eyes for a moment, stiffly turned her head away again, and—
"Kyaaa—"
"Ru, Ruby?"
—let out a burst of strange static.
After finally calming down, Ruby lifted her head and spoke to Aqua in a low voice.
"Hey—at this rate, isn’t this a little dangerous?"
"Dangerous how?"
"At this rate, it might turn into a handshake event instead of an observation class. See over there?"
Where Ruby pointed, Kaoru’s bromide was already rolled up on the teacher’s desk…
Aqua ran a hand over his forehead and let out a deep sigh.
"What can we do about that… We can’t stop it anyway, and today’s a shortened schedule, so after the observation class we’re going straight home with our parents."
"But if ‘model student’ Ruby keeps this up, won’t she lose her shine?"
"…Huh? Model… student?"
Her younger sister, who spent class time stacking erasers into towers for fun every day, a model student?
Ignoring material already known and still participating diligently in class were clearly two different things.
Having personally experienced the stark difference between Ruby in her past life and her present life, Aqua couldn’t bring himself to agree, not even with a polite lie.
Whether he could or not, Ruby lifted her index finger just like her mother and said brightly, "Mama and Papa took time out of their busy schedules to come to the observation class, so Ruby can’t just sit still!"
"……"
Aqua, sweating coldly, looked at Ruby for a moment before scratching his head and saying, "Ruby. But… if your ‘model student’ plan actually works and our parents start expecting things from you… are you confident you can live up to those expectations?"
"Eh?"
Ruby turned to stone on the spot at Aqua’s sharp question, which had caught her completely off guard.
Not noticing that Ruby had turned to stone, Aqua went on with a serious expression, stroking his chin.
"If, say, Sarina… no, if you’re trying to gain a clear advantage in ‘schoolwork’ like Dad did, for the sake of the ‘dream’ you couldn’t achieve in your past life… then as your big brother, I’ll do everything I can to help you… Ruby?"
"……"
Ruby, reflecting on Papa’s academic background just like Aqua had, decided to give up on her grand plan cleanly.
Even if she survived by slicing her old academic level from her first year of middle school into tiny pieces… the moment she had to start preparing for high school entrance exams, her reserves would inevitably run dry.
And if she thought about Papa, who had effortlessly broken through the famous top-ranked high school in the Kanto region, Kaisei High School, and the University of Tokyo’s Faculty of Law while juggling a busy entertainment career…
Maybe the one better suited for that was the past-life doctor brother standing beside her, not her…
"Hiiing… Ruby wants to be a model student too…"
"Ru, Ruby?"
Was it a crime not to be enthusiastic about schoolwork?
It wasn’t that she couldn’t do it… it was just boring, so she didn’t do it! Didn’t do it!!!
To comfort the thoroughly dejected Ruby, Aqua broke out in a cold sweat and kicked his brain into overdrive.
"You don’t have to be a model student only through studying! If you’re kind, diligent, cute, and pretty like Ruby, then a student who’s friendly and gentle with her friends can also be called a ‘model student.’
Big brother only got into medical school because I was just good at studying, that’s all. I’m really nothing special.
Honestly, I think it’s better to live school life the way you do, Ruby—kind and bright.
Even in my past life, the person who made me happy for even a little while on days when I was worn out from work was none other than you, Ruby."
"……Hehe—★ Really?"
"Really!"
Reenergized by Aqua’s devoted reassurance, Ruby once again flashed a starry smile just like Ai’s.
With a bright, fresh smile just like his favorite’s, Aqua filled his blue eyes with it and—
"Don’t worry, Ruby. I’ll definitely help you achieve your dream… so long as I’m by your side."
He firmly resolved to fill his heart with determination.
-
Following the 안내 signs inside, they were led by the staff to a large classroom in another building, where they were first holding a briefing for first-grade parents about school administration, school events, and the curriculum before the observation class began.
"Hello~!"
"Ah, yes. Hello~"
With her usual bright smile, Ai bowed politely to the staff. At the appearance of the most famous married couple in Japan, not only the staff but even the parents standing in the hallway all focused their attention on them, staring in surprise.
"…Oh my."
"……"
Once they entered the classroom, a brief silence settled over it at the unique aura and charisma radiating from the celebrity couple, the kind people only ever saw on TV or in movies.
The sharp gazes of the haughty upper-class parents gleamed.
Jealousy and envy, admiration and spite, curiosity and caution.
Eyes that openly measured their “value”—
eyes obsessed with material abundance, and yet, in stark contrast to that abundance, driven by a compulsion to covet wealth endlessly and cling to what they had at any cost.
"Ah! Kaoru, let’s sit over there!"
"Mm."
Fortunately, the child didn’t notice those looks and took Kaoru’s hand, pointing to a seat by the window.
Kaoru gave her the gentle smile reserved only for her—
"……"
and quietly looked at them with his usual cool, indifferent blue eyes.
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