Looking at the incomparably serious Yuka, Kotomi Izumi froze for a moment. It was difficult for her to imagine words like these coming from a child who was still in kindergarten. However, after she recovered from her surprise, Kotomi did not feel particularly worried.
Most parents, after hearing their own child say something like this, would rarely stop to think about whether the child was right or wrong. The moment they learned their child liked reading dark stories, they might simply launch into a harsh lecture.
Although Kotomi Izumi also felt that kindergarteners were far too young to be reading dark fairy tales, even the publisher of this dark fairy-tale collection had classified the book under suspense and horror.
Unfortunately, the owner of the bookstore Yuka frequented was apparently rather careless and had somehow placed a suspense-horror book on the children's bookshelf. Yuka just happened to buy it. If she had never read it, that would have been the end of it, but once she started, she immediately fell in love with it.
Still, the bookstore owner could not take all the blame. The title itself was rather misleading. Bedtime Story Collection for Good Children. If someone had not checked the publisher's official shelving guidelines and only glanced at the cover and title, naturally they might casually place it among children's books.
So she likes dark stories... Kotomi Izumi thought to herself. She suddenly remembered that when she was in her second year of middle school, she had gone through a similar phase and had been extremely interested in dark, deep, and brutal storylines.
Whenever she was bored, Kotomi would even pick up a marker and write several hundred words, sometimes over a thousand, in her lesson-preparation notebook, producing plots she considered incredibly dark, profound, and cruel. At the time, she genuinely believed that if she published them as a book, she would become a legendary author remembered for generations, and might even end up appearing in textbooks.
In reality, forget being remembered for generations. It had not even been two full years since her second year of middle school. A few weeks ago, Kotomi had accidentally found that old notebook filled with "dark, deep, and brutal" plots at the bottom of a storage box.
The moment she casually opened to one page, the corners of her mouth started twitching uncontrollably. Grinding her teeth, she forced herself to turn to the second page, only for a tidal wave of embarrassment to nearly smash even someone as thick-skinned as Kotomi straight into the floor and leave her unable to get back up.
Kotomi Izumi had originally thought she still counted as a chuunibyou girl even now, but after reading the "dark, deep, and brutal" novels she had written in her second year of middle school, she suddenly felt that she was not really that chuunibyou anymore.
At the very least, she was nowhere near as bad as she had been back then... After all, whenever she finished writing a section of "dark, deep, and brutal" plot in middle school, she would repeatedly savor it and admire it, and occasionally even make a remastered version. Fortunately, Kotomi had been mildly socially anxious back then.
Although she got along reasonably well with her classmates, she had never let any of them know she was writing a novel. It was not because she lacked the courage. Rather, Kotomi had always planned to wait until she finished an entire volume, then share the notebook filled with her "dark, deep, and brutal" storylines with one particular classmate.
Kotomi believed that after this classmate finished appreciating the masterpiece she had created, they would surely be unable to resist sharing this unpublished dark masterpiece with all their friends!
One person would tell ten, and ten would tell a hundred. When that happened, the dark masterpiece she had created would definitely capture the hearts of every student! Maybe even the teachers would fall in love with it!
The entire school's teachers and students would become her most loyal readers!
By then, perhaps she would have only just graduated from her third year of middle school, yet she would already have become an honorary alumna of a private middle school in Chiba City! These were the chuunibyou fantasies little Kotomi had constantly indulged in during her second year of middle school. Back then, she often imagined that despite being bad at schoolwork, she was secretly a best-selling author earning a million yen a month.
Then, at some point, her hidden identity would be exposed to her teachers and classmates, and countless people would look at her with admiration and envy! Little Kotomi nowadays still occasionally fantasized about things like that, but she was no longer nearly as enthusiastic about writing "dark, deep, and brutal" fiction.
Even when reading novels, compared with grim stories, she still preferred lighter and happier ones. Besides, the things she had written during her second year of middle school could not even really be called dark fiction. They were nothing more than the mutterings of a chuunibyou girl when she was in a bad mood. Otherwise, she would not nearly collapse from embarrassment simply by reading them now.
Thankfully, even by the time she graduated, she had still never decided who she wanted to show her "dark masterpiece" to. Otherwise, she might very well have left behind an immortal piece of embarrassing history at that private middle school in Chiba!
Returning to the present, as Kotomi Izumi looked at Yuka's serious expression, she suddenly felt that Yuka looked very much like she herself had during her second year of middle school. To put it simply—it was the expression of a chuunibyou girl.
Yuka's way of thinking was far beyond that of children her own age. It would not be an exaggeration to say that Yuka's current logic and thought process did not resemble that of a kindergartener at all. She was more like a girl who had just entered middle school. In fact, her mental maturity might even surpass that of the average middle schooler.
But that also meant there was a problem. Once children reached middle school, their ways of viewing and thinking about things began to grow much richer, and combined with gradually entering puberty, many boys and girls developed a certain "illness" around this time known as—chuunibyou.
It might not require a trip to the hospital, but it could still make a person seem rather eccentric. For example, when Kotomi Izumi had suffered from chuunibyou, one day she would imagine herself as a best-selling author earning a million yen per month.
The next day, she would imagine herself as a demon hunter dressed in a white trench coat, wielding a meat cleaver and a sword cane, walking beneath the tolling midnight bells through the streets of a Gothic city with an evil smile curling across her lips as she performed a song of slaughter.
The day after that, she would imagine that she was actually a mecha pilot racing through the stars of the universe, complete with her own specially chosen background music.
And Yuka right now was a little... well, chuunibyou.
Still, chuunibyou or not, what Yuka had said did actually make some sense.
Even if you pretend not to see it, darkness still exists.
Kotomi Izumi genuinely agreed with that sentence.
Still, agreement was one thing. Yuka developing chuunibyou at such a young age was indeed not ideal. As her future mother... Ahem, as her future sister-in-law, Kotomi had a responsibility to guide Yuka a little! It was fine to like dark stories.
She just could not become too obsessed with them.
"Mm-hmm. Yuka, one thing you said is absolutely right. There really is something wrong with the way adults educate children," Kotomi Izumi said with a nod, first acknowledging Yuka's point of view.
"R-Really?!"
When Yuka saw that Penguin Onee-chan actually agreed with her, joy appeared on her face. She had wanted to say these things for a long time, but she had never dared to voice them. She worried that if she did, her mother and sister would become concerned about her.
Yuka herself was actually very aware that for someone her age to have thoughts like these would definitely worry them if they knew. She had originally never intended to tell Kotomi either. Although she wanted very much to rely on her, she did not want Penguin Onee-chan to worry about her. Yuka had planned to keep these thoughts hidden forever, but after listening to the bedtime story and being questioned by Kotomi, she had gotten emotional and blurted everything out.
Now that her excitement had faded somewhat, Yuka gradually began to feel embarrassed and awkward. She worried that Penguin Onee-chan would laugh at her after hearing all this. Yuka, who was gradually "coming down with" chuunibyou, was currently at the exact stage when she desperately wanted recognition.
As someone who had once been a severe chuunibyou girl and was now merely a mild one, Kotomi Izumi understood perfectly well from experience that Yuka desperately needed validation right now. So she did not rush to refute what Yuka had said. Besides, parts of Yuka's argument really were perfectly reasonable.
"Of course it's true. There really are problems with how many adults educate children nowadays. They can't tolerate their children having even slightly different ideas from their own understanding of the world. When the child voices those thoughts, instead of trying to understand them, they'll loudly scold them.
"But that isn't actually too difficult to understand either. After all, some children's parents may both have to work. By the time they come home after working overtime every day, they're already exhausted. If they then hear their child saying all sorts of strange things, even if they don't get angry, they definitely won't be able to understand immediately.
"If they could understand it instantly, then it wouldn't really count as something strange in the first place. Understanding also takes energy, and parents who have already worked all day don't have much energy left to think about these things."
Kotomi Izumi stroked Yuka's head and patiently gave her various examples in a gentle voice. "Education is actually like an exam paper with no standard answers. Educating a child well means trying to score highly, or even get full marks, despite there being no answer key.
"Just hearing that, doesn't it already sound extremely difficult? Many parents find it hard to handle every aspect of education perfectly and without flaws. Even an educational expert raising a child would have trouble guaranteeing one hundred percent that the child would grow into an excellent student with outstanding morals and academics.
"Let's think about it from another perspective, Yuka. One day in the future, when you've grown up, have a small family of your own, and become a mother, can you guarantee that you'll never make a single mistake when educating your child?" After hearing Kotomi Izumi put it that way, Yuka froze for a long moment before shaking her head.
"I can't guarantee it."
"Very good. The fact that you didn't immediately say you definitely could means you're not an arrogant child. You're a calm one. Before saying something, you stop to think about whether you can actually do it. That's a good trait. Once you grow up, you'll understand that society rarely contains simple matters of right and wrong. More often than not, people have to blend into the world around them.
"But whether you eventually choose to stand out with your sharp edges exposed or blend quietly into the world is something you'll need to decide for yourself as you grow. No matter what you choose, though, I'll always have your back. I'll always shelter you from the wind and rain." "Penguin Onee-chan, why are you so good to me?"
For a moment, Yuka could not help staring blankly.
The way Kotomi Izumi treated her was so kind that Yuka briefly could not even tell whether she was dreaming. Faced with Yuka's somewhat innocent question, Kotomi Izumi chuckled. Yuka was very clever sometimes, but at other times she was just like an ordinary child, adorably slow on the uptake.
"The answer is simple. It's because I like your sister. I'm your sister's girlfriend, and one day in the future, I'm going to marry her too. When that happens, you'll have to officially start calling me your sister-in-law. As your sister-in-law, it's perfectly normal for me to treat my little sister-in-law well, right?" Kotomi Izumi pinched Yuka's soft little cheeks, smiling playfully yet speaking seriously.
Of course, there was one other sentence that Kotomi Izumi was only thinking inwardly and did not say to Yuka. Actually, I don't just like your sister. I like your mother too. One day in the future, I might marry your mother as well. Then I'll become your new mother. Isn't it only natural for a mother to treat her daughter well?
Kotomi Izumi chose not to say that aloud right now. Although Yuka was very smart, she was still worried that if she said something like that at this moment, Yuka's little brain might not be able to process it.
"Yay! I like Penguin Onee-chan the most! I really wish you could become my sister-in-law right now and marry into our family!" After hearing Kotomi's answer, Yuka became so happy that she sprang straight up on the bed.
Then she threw herself into Kotomi's arms.
Apparently, that bedtime story had been completely wasted. Not only was Yuka not sleepy at all right now, she was incredibly energetic instead. "Silly girl. Your sister and I are both still students. Getting married now would be too early..."
Halfway through speaking, Kotomi Izumi suddenly remembered that she was already sixteen, which meant she had already reached the legal marriageable age in Japan.
So it was not actually too early.
"Penguin Onee-chan, what's wrong?"
Yuka looked at Kotomi, who had suddenly stopped speaking halfway through her sentence, and asked in confusion.
"N-Nothing. I just suddenly remembered that I'm already old enough to get married, hahaha~"Kotomi Izumi smiled faintly.
The moment Yuka heard that, her eyes lit up and her voice became incomparably excited and expectant. "Doesn't that mean you can marry my sister tomorrow, Penguin Onee-chan? And then I'll immediately get a little nephew or niece?!"
"Silly child. Setting marriage aside for now, do you think getting pregnant is really that simple?"
"Then how long until I can have a little nephew or niece?" Yuka asked curiously.
"Uh... Well..."
For a moment, Kotomi Izumi had no idea how to answer. Although her body was special, meaning she could become pregnant even with another girl and could even get the other girl pregnant, there was no way Kotomi could predict exactly when pregnancy would happen.
It wasn't as if Yuka could say today that she wanted a little nephew or niece and Kotomi would immediately become pregnant tomorrow.
—
—
40 Advanced Chapters Available on Patreon:
Patreon.com/DaoOfHeaven