"Then I'll leave the luggage here."
"Vrrrroooom!"
The delivery man who had hauled our moving boxes gave a polite bow, climbed into the truck, and drove off.
Dad and I stood there blankly beside the mountain of luggage, staring up at the house that looked like it had only just been built. Then Dad muttered under his breath.
"Well... when I heard that people injured by Ghouls could apply to the CCG for compensation, and that they'd even provide a new house to replace the one that got damaged, I thought, 'That sounds great,' and applied right away, but..."
"...I didn't expect they'd not only put money in the bank account, but also give us a house this clean and new."
I finished Dad's sentence, and we exchanged the same bewildered look.
From what I'd heard from Dad and Mister Hitokawa, the official in charge of compensation had once received a huge favor from Grandpa—Takaki Harima—so he'd gone out of his way to look after Dad, his son.
Because of that, when I told Dad, "So the world really runs on connections!" he looked sad and said, "Eto, you can stay a little more innocent for now."
What exactly had made Dad sad?
The new house wasn't the old, run-down villa we'd lived in before. It was a house tucked into a quiet residential neighborhood. Small, but it even had a garden.
It was a little overwhelming that they'd gone to such lengths for us, but seeing Dad look genuinely moved that he'd somehow ended up living in a private house in his lifetime made my chest feel warm too.
"Well, enough sentimentality. Let's start unpacking."
"Yes~!"
And so the unpacking began.
Dad carried the big, heavy things, while I sorted the smaller, lighter boxes.
When I asked why Dad was moving the heavy stuff even though I was stronger than him, he answered, "Because I'm the dad."
I didn't really understand, but since it was Dad's answer, I decided that must be how it worked.
Still, it would be hard for Dad to handle all the heavy boxes by himself, so while pretending to sort the light ones, I moved some of the heavier stuff too.
Inside were the books from our old house. I'd already read them all, but seeing them again made me happy.
As I was lining the books up on the shelf one by one, I suddenly noticed something strange.
"Huh? What's this?"
A thin magazine had been wedged between the pages of a thick book.
What was it? It looked pretty old. It must have been stuck between the books for a long time without anyone noticing.
On the cover, there was a woman in a swimsuit striking some weird pose. Just from the cover, I couldn't tell what it was about. I opened it.
...? Why are this lady and this man hugging each other like that? If they're cold, they could just put on clothes.
"Etooo~. Once you finish organizing the boxes over there..."
Since it was a job on a hot summer day, Dad had brought cold ice water with him, but he stopped dead in the doorway. Why did he look frozen when the weather was this hot?
Then, with the ice water spilling everywhere, he lunged forward, snatched the magazine out of my hands, and opened the window in one smooth motion that was almost worthy of applause.
"Why is something I threw away ages ago still hereeeeeeeeeee―――――!!!!!!"
He shouted that and hurled it with all his strength into the sky. I saw the magazine fly off and knock a bird out of the air.
I was startled and told Dad, "Dad! You can't handle books like that!"
"Eto. In this world, there are things you have to protect even if it means tossing away a precious book."
Dad closed the window with a solemn look on his face.
Sometimes Dad says things I can't understand at all. I'm going to write them down somewhere and think about what they mean again when I'm grown up.
For now, though, there was a more immediate question to solve.
"But Dad. In that magazine just now, the lady and the man were hugging naked. What were they doing?"
Jolt!
Dad's shoulders shook violently.
Sweat broke out on his forehead, and his restless eyes looked like a cornered mouse desperately searching for a way out.
After he finished sorting out his thoughts, Dad returned to his usual calm and said, "Professional wrestling."
"Do people do professional wrestling naked?"
"It's performance art. The concept is that Adam and Eve, in the Garden of Eden, are engaged in a fated showdown—throwing power bombs and body presses to determine male and female superiority."
"..."
It seemed Dad had no intention of teaching me the truth. That made one more thing I'd have to figure out when I grew up.
"Hoo~!"
"I'm exhausted~!"
After we finished everything, Dad and I flopped down on the wooden floor. Moving into a new house was exciting, but it was also incredibly tiring.
Dad fanned himself with his hand to cool off from the work, then looked around and muttered, "Is it because it's so much bigger than the old place? Even after moving everything in, the house still feels kind of empty."
It was true that this house was bigger and had a lot of spare rooms. From what I'd heard, it had originally been built for a family of four.
Maybe because of all the extra space, Dad looked at the empty rooms and said, "How about we get a pet?"
"Huh? A pet?"
My half-lidded eyes flew open at the tempting suggestion.
"Yeah. A dog or a cat, maybe. A bird might be fine too. Oh, and since we have a garden, maybe we could grow flowers?"
"B-but is that okay? Pet food costs a lot, and you'd have to take them to the animal hospital regularly and everything. It sounds like a lot of work!"
"Eto. Our finances aren't so bad that a five-year-old needs to worry seriously about them, you know? Besides, we just got money this time."
Dad gave a wry smile and rested his chin on his hand as he looked at me.
"You were always left alone watching the house while I was out working. I'd been thinking a pet might be nice. Now that we've moved into a detached house, we can raise one however we want, right? And this house is big. I don't think it'd be bad to have a new family member."
"Family... A new family member! We're getting a new family member~!!"
Just hearing that made me feel like I might float right off the ground.
I couldn't contain myself and started hopping around the house. I jumped so hard I bumped my head on the ceiling, but it didn't hurt.
"You're that happy?"
"Yes! It feels just like I'm getting a new little sibling~!"
Apparently thinking that was a pretty good comparison, Dad laughed.
"A little sibling, huh. That's not bad. In that case, should I take this chance to charm some pretty, kind young lady and bring home Eto's mom?"
"No. I'd rather die than need something like that."
Crack!
The temperature in the house dropped by three or four degrees in an instant. Probably because Dad had made a terrible joke.
Honestly. A mom? That was the least funny joke I'd ever heard from Dad in my life. It was almost annoying.
But Dad seemed more shocked that my voice was colder than the temperature in the house, and he called my name in obvious panic.
"E-Eto?"
"Dad, even as a joke, you can't say you're going to go charm just any woman. Okay? All women except me are snakes. They all keep a snake inside them. They go around looking for some sucker to use their hunting instincts on and suck down to the marrow. You're too kind, so you'd be an easy target. So you have to be careful around women. Got it?"
"O-okay... Wait, why am I getting lectured like this by my daughter? Isn't it usually the dad who warns his daughter to be careful around men? 'Daughter, all men except Dad are wolves!' That's the standard line, right? What kind of heretic is remixing a family-loving speech into something like this?"
Dad started spouting more incomprehensible things, but I couldn't make sense of any of it, and soon I was lost in happy thoughts about what kind of pet we should get.
"Hmm~. Still, if she hates the idea of me getting a mom that much... does that mean I'm going to be single for life?"
Was it just my imagination, or did Dad's voice sound a little tearful?
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