Ch.387IF Side Story: Seems I’ve Arrived a Bit Early (84)

After that, Yuka started treating me a bit more comfortably.

She still didn’t live nearby. Yuka apparently lived quite far from our house, so it was somewhat awkward to always invite her to our area, but it seemed fine to meet at a halfway point.

Though it was difficult for me to travel around too much on my own due to my situation, my dad would often drive me on weekends when he had free time.

He could drop me off by car, wait until Yuka arrived, and then leave.

“…Hey, Dad.”

“Hmm?”

That day, while waiting for Yuka as usual, I suddenly called out to my dad, and he looked down at me from where he sat beside me.

Kagami is tall for a woman. She might even be slightly taller than the average man. Though she does often look younger than she is because of her appearance.

Well, she was actually quite young for having a daughter my age, but there were times when she looked even younger than that.

Dad is taller than her. He’s well above the average height for men. There was a reason Souta got a bit intimidated whenever he saw my dad, even though Souta himself wasn’t particularly short.

Despite being that kind of dad, I wasn’t scared of him at all now.

He’s the type of person who can show a doting father’s expression and attitude toward a girl who doesn’t share a single drop of blood with him and who, legally speaking, is difficult to call his daughter.

These days, he’s gotten quite close with me and Kagami, and sometimes when Dad says something strange or scares people around us too much, Kagami would slap his arm. It wasn’t hard enough to hurt, more like a light tap.

Dad seemed to find it amusing.

At our home, Dad’s position had somehow become literally “Dad.” That is, to both me and Kagami. Outside, they pretended to be a married couple with a significant age gap, but at home, it was like that. Even though Kagami didn’t explicitly call him “Dad,” and the age difference between Kagami and Dad was… slightly less than the age difference between me and Kagami.

So, even if I wanted to be scared of him, it was difficult.

“Don’t you find it annoying to always drive me like this?”

But I’m human too. That means I understand basic human decency.

Whether blood is mixed in a father-daughter relationship might not matter, but having a dad who’s legally difficult to call family run errands for me like this sometimes made me feel guilty. I could actually just take the subway from near our house.

No, that’s not right. Even when I took the subway, Dad would stick by my side—

“…”

However, Dad seemed somewhat shocked by my words.

Plop.

The soft-serve ice cream he was holding fell to the ground. His mouth was hanging open, and his eyes were unfocused.

“Kotone, do you find me annoying?”

No, honestly, isn’t the person asking such a question usually the more annoying one?

It feels strange when a man with a bear-like build asks such a thing with a face that looks like he’s about to cry.

“No, no.”

I quickly spoke before Dad could actually start crying.

“I mean exactly what I said. I’m wondering if you find it annoying to drive me every time like this.”

After staring at my face for a few seconds, Dad seemed to finally accept that I was being sincere.

He let out a deep sigh of relief.

“If that’s what you’re asking, it’s not a problem at all.”

And then he said, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world:

“All fathers in the world are happy just to be able to spend time with their daughters.”

Then he slightly turned his gaze to look at the street.

In the distance, a family was passing by. The father wasn’t as big as my dad, but he looked ordinarily dependable, walking with his wife of similar age and their two daughters.

The young daughter holding both parents’ hands looked extremely happy.

…Well, once a daughter reaches her teens, she usually can’t be that close with her dad anymore. Unless she’s much older.

Originally, it should have been Dad’s real daughter beside him, not me.

That’s not just because of me. Dad also has his own reasons for living apart from his family, and somehow ended up with this job in the meantime.

But I still felt a bit guilty.

“How about you, Kotone?”

“Huh?”

“Do you feel that the current situation isn’t good?”

Dad looked at me gently as he asked.

Suddenly realizing that the ice cream in my hand was melting a bit, I quickly licked the melted part.

While buying time like that, I thought carefully.

…If I had to say whether I liked it or not, both answers would be ambiguous. I like this peaceful life. Kagami is at home, Dad is kind, and I have friends around me.

I had expectations that this life might last a bit longer than before.

But at the same time, perhaps because of that, this life isn’t completely whole. There are people watching us, people targeting me, and a life of facing monsters is far from normal.

If I were to compare these two conditions together—well.

“…It’s okay.”

Yes. “It’s okay.”

There are good parts and bad parts, but for now, for now—it was okay.

“I see. That’s good to hear.”

The tension visibly left Dad’s shoulders at my answer.

I slowly licked the ice cream in my hand, and Dad got up to pick up the dropped ice cream and throw it in the trash. Unfortunately, there was nothing he could do about what had melted onto the ground.

In the distance, the person we were waiting for arrived.

She didn’t wave excitedly or anything. Middle school Yuka wasn’t that type of person yet. But still, when our eyes met, she smiled slightly and raised her hand just a little.

Dad and I stood up at the same time.

“Well, have fun. I’ll come pick you up when it’s time.”

Dad patted my shoulder. His hand was so big and heavy that I staggered a bit to the side. I glared at him, but of course, Dad wasn’t fazed at all and just laughed while waving goodbye as he walked away from us.

Yuka exchanged brief greetings with Dad as they passed each other, then approached me.

As I was waving enthusiastically to Dad as he walked away, Yuka came up to me and spoke.

“But why Akihabara?”

Yuka asked incredulously.

“Were you the type who likes manga and stuff?”

“Yeah.”

I turned to Yuka after watching Dad disappear into the crowd.

“I’ve watched a lot since I was young.”

“Really?”

Seeing her tilt her head, it seemed that in Yuka’s mind, I didn’t match the image of someone who would be into that sort of thing.

I grew up watching magical girl shows too. I even rewatched entire seasons multiple times. Well, mostly I just watched alongside my friend.

I still have toys from that time at home, though they’re broken in half.

“So you wanted to come here?”

“It’s a bit different from that.”

I said, scratching my head slightly.

Rather, it’s probably because of memories remaining from my previous life. Wasn’t this a place I had longed for in my childhood? The holy land of otaku.

I wonder if it’s right to use the term “otaku” at this age—

Ah, that’s right.

I’m already in middle school.

I guess this is around the time when it’s determined whether you’re an otaku or not. Elementary school kids naturally like animation anyway.

“I just wanted to visit. I haven’t been to places like this much.”

Finding it awkward to explain, I just gave a vague answer.

That’s right.

Kagami loves me very, very much, but that very, very much love is somewhat problematic.

I don’t want to break the image Kagami has of me. I want to be a perfectly adorable daughter in front of my mom.

No matter what, I didn’t want to show her collecting figurines of cute anime characters, so I never begged Kagami to take me to places like Akihabara.

We usually spent time going to shopping malls to look around, or walking through busy streets and eating something delicious.

…Well, Dad came along today too, but at least I didn’t show much interest in figurines in front of him. At least Dad thinks I’m just here for sightseeing because this place exists.

“Hmm, so you’re using me as an escort to go to places you want to visit?”

Yuka asked, narrowing her eyes.

“No.”

I told her.

I know how to counter in situations like this.

“I just wanted to hang out with you as a friend.”

“…”

Yuka couldn’t argue with that.

“…Let’s go.”

Finally, Yuka turned around.

I followed behind her, grinning for no reason.

Hmm.

I was thinking that Kagami probably wouldn’t mind if I got a few small goods, at least.