The innocent Yuka asked Kotomi Izumi when she would finally get a little nephew or niece.
Yuka probably had not yet realized there was anything strange about what she was asking. She did not know that her question was essentially the same as asking Kotomi: Sister-in-law, when are you going to get pregnant?
Kotomi Izumi might have skin thicker than a city wall, but when her future sister-in-law asked when she was going to give birth to a little nephew or niece for her, Kotomi's pretty face still turned red. She genuinely had no idea how to respond.
After all, pregnancy was not something that happened the instant someone decided they wanted to become pregnant.
From beginning preparations to actually conceiving, the amount of time required varied. It might happen within a few weeks, or it might take several years. No matter what, some time was always needed to prepare.
Kotomi Izumi liked children very much, but whenever she thought about becoming pregnant and becoming a mother, she could not help hesitating.
It was not that she lacked the courage to become pregnant.
Even if her belly suddenly swelled tomorrow and she accidentally really did become pregnant, Kotomi would never abort the child. She would insist on giving birth.
She simply... had not yet prepared herself to become a mother.
As a mother, what exactly was she supposed to do?
What should she do for the child who would be born?
Would she be able to raise her child properly?
What kind of child would her child become?
Whenever Kotomi thought about how she might become pregnant someday and become a mother, all kinds of emotions—confusion, anticipation, nervousness—seemed to gather together and surge through her heart.
Normally, whenever Kotomi Izumi felt confused about something, she could always think her way toward an answer.
But when it came to children and motherhood, Kotomi unexpectedly found herself unable to come up with a suitable answer on her own.
At least, the current her could not think of an answer she could genuinely believe was correct.
While Kotomi's emotions grew complicated and her thoughts wandered, Yuka turned around and obediently nestled against Kotomi's chest, waiting for her answer.
Her innocent eyes gazed at Kotomi. Yuka had no idea what Kotomi was thinking about right now.
Perhaps waiting made her feel a little bored, because an idea suddenly occurred to her.
Children did not like waiting. That was perfectly normal.
Even adults did not like waiting.
Whenever people were forced to wait, they could not help trying to find some way to pass the time.
Yuka was in exactly that mood right now, and an idea came to her—she would put her ear against Kotomi's belly and listen.
Yuka had seen it on television before.
Whenever the heroine became pregnant, the blissfully happy male lead would carefully press his ear against her belly, as though listening for movement from inside.
Yuka wanted to try it too.
By the time Kotomi Izumi came back to her senses, she discovered that Yuka, who had originally been sitting in her arms, had somehow turned around.
Her tiny ear was pressed against Kotomi's belly, and the intensely serious expression on her face made it look as though she were secretly listening to something inside.
Kotomi Izumi froze for a moment at the sight, then Yuka's adorably silly behavior made her laugh.
"Yuka, what are you listening to?"
This little girl might be smarter than other kids her age, but sometimes she's just as goofy as her sister... Kotomi Izumi thought inwardly.
Faced with Kotomi's question, Yuka did not answer immediately.
She remained pressed against Kotomi's belly, her adorable little face wearing an incomparably solemn and serious expression.
That made Kotomi Izumi remember a Cthulhu horror game she had played before called Song of Horror.
One of the game's mechanics was that unknown danger could be lurking behind any door in the mansion.
To improve the player's chances of survival, whenever the protagonists approached a door, they first had to press themselves against it and listen for sounds on the other side to determine whether it was safe.
Back when Kotomi Izumi had been trying to clear the game, she would always wear an especially serious expression whenever she reached one of those moments where she had to listen at a door.
After all, the game was terrifying.
Kotomi did not dare turn the speakers up too loudly, nor did she dare play with headphones on.
She could only lower the volume slightly and concentrate with all her might on listening carefully.
Looking at the solemn expression on Yuka's little face right now, Kotomi could not help remembering that the expression she wore while playing Song of Horror was probably quite similar.
Though logically, there should not have been any connection between the two situations...
Seeing how seriously Yuka was listening against her belly, Kotomi Izumi stopped disturbing her.
She had been a child once too, so she knew perfectly well that children at this age could become completely absorbed in something that seemed utterly boring to adults.
Yuka stayed pressed against Kotomi's belly for quite a while.
Her little face remained so solemn and serious that it almost looked as though she really had heard something.
Only after some time passed did Yuka slowly sit upright.
That was when she noticed Penguin Onee-chan had apparently been watching her with a smile for quite some time.
Just now, Yuka had focused all her attention on "listening to Kotomi's belly," so naturally she had not noticed that Kotomi had already called out to her several times.
Besides, Yuka had originally only wanted to imitate the television scene while Kotomi was lost in thought, simply as a way to pass the time.
She had intended it to be nothing more than a casual imitation.
But the instant Yuka pressed her little ear against Kotomi's belly, a very strange feeling suddenly arose in her heart.
Naturally, Yuka did not actually hear anything unusual.
But while her ear was pressed against Kotomi's stomach, she inexplicably felt something she could not tell was intuition or merely an illusion.
That feeling was—
Perhaps in the not-too-distant future, Kotomi really would become pregnant?!
Yuka had no idea why such a thought had suddenly emerged in her mind.
Seeing Yuka looking confused, as though she were pondering some difficult problem, Kotomi Izumi could not resist asking,
"Yuka, when you were lying against Onee-chan's belly just now, did you hear anything?"
Kotomi Izumi only asked because she wanted to tease Yuka a little.
Even though the expression on Yuka's face just now had been incredibly solemn and serious, Kotomi did not believe she had actually heard anything.
Because Kotomi Izumi had a perfectly clear conscience.
It was her own body. How could she possibly not know?
If she really were pregnant enough for someone to hear something by pressing an ear to her stomach, then leaving aside how her body should have reacted, at the very least her belly should already have swollen by now.
But right now, Kotomi did not have even the slightest symptom resembling pregnancy.
Forget swelling. Her stomach was completely flat.
How could she possibly be pregnant?
When Kotomi Izumi asked her that, Yuka hesitated.
She did not know whether she should tell Kotomi what had just occurred to her.
She herself was not sure whether the thought that had suddenly surfaced in her mind was some kind of premonition or merely an illusion.
If it was just my imagination, would Penguin Onee-chan be unhappy if I told her?
With that concern in mind, Yuka chose not to tell Kotomi what she had just thought.
Instead, she shook her head and said,
"I just wanted to imitate something I saw on TV."
"Something from TV?"
Kotomi Izumi looked a little confused.
Although there was more than a decade of age difference between her and Yuka, logically speaking, they should not yet have reached the point where a generation gap made communication difficult.
So why did Kotomi still find herself not quite understanding what Yuka meant?
Seeing that Kotomi Izumi still looked puzzled, Yuka continued explaining.
"I watched a TV drama before where the heroine accidentally got pregnant with the male lead's child."
"A lot of misunderstandings happened along the way, but eventually the two of them finally cleared everything up."
"Then the male lead pressed his ear against the heroine's belly and listened to what was happening inside."
After hearing that, Kotomi Izumi finally understood.
So Yuka had simply wanted to imitate a scene from a romance drama.
"So that's what you meant. I've never seen the drama you're talking about, but from the sound of it, it must have had a happy ending, right?" Kotomi Izumi asked with a smile.
"No!"
Yuka shook her head and continued,
"Three days after the male and female leads cleared up their misunderstandings, the heroine was crossing the street when a car ran a red light and hit her."
"She miscarried and lost her memory, then mistakenly believed the male lead was the driver who hit her and caused her miscarriage."
"But the story ended there. If you want to know what happens next, you have to wait for season three."
Pfft.
After hearing Yuka describe the plot, Kotomi Izumi could not help bursting into laughter.
So this melodramatic soap opera had already reached its second season.
"What happened in the first season?"
Kotomi Izumi asked curiously.
She had no desire to actually sit through the drama episode by episode, but she did rather enjoy listening to Yuka summarize the plot.
"The heroine is the male lead's fiancée, and she'd secretly loved him for years."
"But ten years ago, the male lead was seriously injured while saving her and lost his memory."
"Halfway through season one, the male lead recovered his memories, but then the heroine lost hers."
After hearing that, Kotomi Izumi could not help tugging at the corner of her mouth.
Then, somewhat curious, she asked,
"Do you remember how many times the male lead and heroine have lost their memories in total since the first episode of season one?"
"The heroine lost her memory seven times, and the male lead lost his three times."
Yuka watched the drama often, so she remembered exactly how many times both leads had suffered amnesia.
"Well, look at that. Add them together and you even get an even number. Those two really are a perfect match," Kotomi Izumi could not resist teasing.
"Penguin Onee-chan, what's an even number?"
"Uh... It's..."
Kotomi Izumi froze halfway through her explanation.
Her mathematics grades were quite good, but for some inexplicable reason, she suddenly experienced something similar to forgetting how to write a familiar character.
She knew what an even number was, but she could not figure out how to explain it to Yuka.
Kotomi Izumi stumbled over her words and thought for ages.
It was obviously just a simple concept that could be explained in a few minutes, but right now, Kotomi simply could not put it into words.
If anyone learned that Kotomi Izumi, a high school student who had ranked first in her entire grade twice in a row and first in all of Tokyo, could not even explain what an even number was, doubts about her would probably come flooding in like a tide.
After thinking for a long time, Kotomi Izumi finally gave up struggling.
She had never expected that after awakening her learning ability, she would still get to experience that strange sensation of knowing something but being unable to articulate it.
However, her creative career was gradually getting on track now, so Kotomi no longer intended to put much effort into pretending to be some perfect honor student with amazing academic ability.
Even if she woke up tomorrow and discovered that her learning ability had disappeared or expired, Kotomi Izumi would not feel particularly regretful.
Forget her learning ability.
If she could trade away every single ability the System had granted her in exchange for Kazumi waking up, Kotomi Izumi would agree without the slightest hesitation.
Ever since Kazumi had fallen asleep, Kotomi Izumi had constantly thought to herself that she did not care about game companies, novels, manga, anime, music, studying, or any of it anymore.
She would gladly give everything up and become nothing more than an ordinary high school girl, as long as Kazumi could wake up!
But her prayers had not brought about a miracle.
She still possessed all the various skill levels the System had given her.
Her Fame Points continued increasing every day.
When Kazumi had been around, Kotomi would constantly match wits with her just to save one or two Fame Points.
Now that Kazumi was gone, Kotomi Izumi could no longer even remember the last time she had paid attention to her Fame Points. To her, Fame Points now felt like nothing more than a cold string of numbers that increased every day.
Thinking about that, Kotomi Izumi silently sighed.
She did not continue reading Yuka bedtime stories, nor did she keep chatting with her about various topics.
Instead, she had Yuka lie down.
After pulling the blanket over her, Kotomi lay down as well.
Yuka suddenly sensed the change in Kotomi's mood and asked with concern,
"Penguin Onee-chan, are you okay?"
"I'm fine. Onee-chan is just a little tired and wants to sleep early."
Kotomi Izumi gave Yuka a faint smile as she spoke, not wanting her to worry.
Hearing that, Yuka obediently nodded.
"Mm-hmm. Goodnight, Penguin Onee-chan!"
"Goodnight."
Kotomi Izumi smiled faintly, reached out, and gently patted Yuka while singing her a lullaby.
The dazzling sun shone down from the sky.
Along the roadside, sunlight filtering through the leaves and branches of the trees cast patch after patch of green shade across the concrete pavement.
But because the trees creating those patches of shade were too short, they could not actually provide pedestrians much protection from the summer heat.
As a result, there were very few people on the streets that morning.
Only a few stray cats and dogs hid beneath the shade.
Under the scorching summer sun, both animals and humans gradually seemed to lose their vitality.
I'm crying.
Kotomi Izumi thought inwardly.
She knew very clearly that she was dreaming, and her current perspective seemed to belong to herself as a child.
Her younger self was sitting on the ground, bawling loudly for some unknown reason.
Tears blurred Kotomi Izumi's vision.
Through the hazy blur, she saw a silver-haired little girl wearing a beret standing in front of her.
The girl held a cane in one small hand and positioned herself protectively between Kotomi and whatever lay ahead.
Why are you protecting me?
Kotomi Izumi instinctively wondered.
She wanted to open her mouth and ask the silver-haired little girl holding the cane in front of her.
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