༺ Who Is Naru’s Mom? (1) ༻
Before they knew it.
It was after school. Cecily and Naru had stayed in the classroom to clean.
It was because Teacher Salome had firmly instructed them, saying, “You two stay and clean!”
They swept and wiped under the classroom desks and chairs.
They worked hard, and before they knew it, it was already 3 p.m.
It was a bit late for the first day of school.
“Phew, we’re done. Naru worked hard on cleaning! Naru seems to like cleaning!”
After finishing cleaning, Naru raised her hand triumphantly.
It felt quite good to see dirty things becoming clean.
Cecily also wiped the sweat on her forehead with her sleeve and said,
“I remember the old days. We used to clean the house with our families.”
“A big clean-up? Naru used to do that with her family too! Cecily, you have a lot in common with Naru, huh?”
“Is that so?”
The first-grade girls giggled in the classroom.
Someone was watching such a scene from outside the classroom.
“Excuse me…”
It was a red-haired girl, Elizabeth.
Elizabeth approached the children who had finished cleaning.
Then she held out the ice cream she was holding one by one.
“You guys, have one of these.”
“Ice cream! Naru likes ice cream! Is there a flavor like ‘Dad’s taste from another world’?”
“What kind of an ice cream is that?”
The children accepted the ice cream one by one.
It was ice cream that Elizabeth had bought with all of her allowance for the day. The children in Freesia really liked it.
Naru and Cecily liked it too.
However, even though they enjoyed the ice cream, Elizabeth’s heart didn’t seem to improve.
“Well, Naru, about earlier…”
It was probably best to apologize to Naru.
And it seemed best to tell Cecily, Naru’s friend, the truth.
With that thought, when Elizabeth opened her mouth, Naru raised her hand and hugged Elizabeth tightly.
“The ice cream was good! Elizabeth is a good girl! Naru wants to be friends with Elizabeth!”
“Fr, Friends?”
“Ow, holy shh…! Naru has one more friend…! If Naru makes one friend a day, she’ll have 389 friends in a year…?”
“Naru, a year has 365 days.”
“Naru can only count up to 100!”
Chatter— Chatter—
Elizabeth bit her lip as she watched the noisy duo.
Friends.
Hearing that word made something fluffy and sweet start to swell in her chest.
“Sure, I will! I’ll buy ice cream for you tomorrow too! And the day after that! I’ll buy bread too!”
Elizabeth exclaimed in excitement.
Upon hearing this, Cecily thought to herself.
“…No, is she a friend or a bread delivery girl?”
Of course, she decided not to say anything about that.
* * *
Naru returned home at 6 p.m.
As far as I know, the first day of school usually ends early.
But judging by the dirt and dust all over her newly worn school uniform, it seemed like she had been out playing somewhere.
I asked her.
“Naru, how was school? Was it fun? Did you make any friends?”
I was curious about what Naru had been up to.
Naru, however, glanced at me slyly and said, “Naru doesn’t know!” in a strange way, then quickly disappeared into a small room in the lab.
“What do you mean? What don’t you know?”
Naru seemed to be hiding something from me.
I reached into my pocket, where I had kept the butterfly ribbon lockpick that I was planning to give to Naru as a gift.
Should I ask again?
“Naru, what happened at school?”
“I… I don’t know…”
It’s suspicious.
It seemed like something had happened at school, but she wasn’t talking.
Could she have been bullied?
Was the dirt on her body a sign of mistreatment?
No, Naru wouldn’t let anyone mistreat her.
She would definitely fight back.
“It’s strange.”
While I was scratching my chin with my arm crossed, Brigitte, who had been watching this scene from the side, opened her narrow eyes.
“Could it be that she has a boyfriend?”
“What…!?”
“Naru is pretty. It wouldn’t be strange if she had caught the eye of some boys. Maybe childhood sweethearts?”
A boyfriend?
Is someone trying to steal my daughter, Naru?
How dare they steal from me!
“I should put a stop to this.”
Naru was supposed to raise her princess power to A rank and become an SSR princess eventually.
But before that, the thought of someone trying to take Naru away made me angry.
Of course, Brigitte chuckled softly.
“Just kidding. But you know, girls her age usually have a thing or two they don’t want to tell their dad. Still, it seems like she’s making friends.”
“Is that so?”
“I saw them earlier in the park, catching sparrows. Cecily was there too. Elizabeth was there too. Elizabeth is the daughter of the pharmacist Lanafelt and she’s quite talented. She’s ranked second.”
Oh.
She’s already made friends with the second-ranked student?
Good friends were essential for my “Naru’s SSR Improvement Plan.”
You know what they say.
“If you’re close to ink, you’ll get black.” Just like how you become smarter and kinder when you’re close to good friends.
Anyway, she has already made quite an impressive friend.
They say a good school district is important.
It’s not for nothing that apartments in areas with good school districts are expensive.
“Well, I’ll prepare dinner then.”
Step—
Brigitte went into the kitchen attached to the laboratory.
At that moment, the entrance to the laboratory opened, and Cariote returned.
“The atmosphere is strange. Where’s Naru? She would usually come out to greet me.”
Cariote was looking for Naru.
Since the incident where the children were kidnapped not long ago, she had been strangely protective of Naru.
“Naru is in that room over there. Something seemed to have happened at school, but she doesn’t want to tell me.”
“I see.”
Before we knew it, it was dinner time.
Today’s side dish was pork cutlets.
“Pork cutlets…! I had them for lunch today, and now I am having them for dinner…! I hope we have them for breakfast tomorrow as well…! And for lunch…!”
Naru loved pork cutlets.
They were delicious.
And from what I had heard, they had pork cutlets for lunch today too.
“Naru, did you have pork cutlets for lunch today?”
I asked her.
Naru, who was enjoying her pork cutlets, suddenly stopped and got off her chair and then went back into the small room.
“Naru, are you not very hungry?”
Naru leaving pork cutlets uneaten?
This was very surprising.
Naru loved pork cutlets.
To the extent that when I asked Naru, “Do you like Dad or pork cutlets more?” she hesitated for about a second, she liked pork cutlets that much.
And now she was refusing pork cutlets!
What on earth happened at school?
I was getting increasingly curious. Cariote chuckled softly.
It felt like the first time I had seen Cariote smile.
Contrary to her cold demeanor, it was quite an attractive smile.
“I’ll ask her. Girls her age usually have at least one secret. I was the same.”
Didn’t Brigitte say something like that too?
Is it normal for girls to be like this when they go to school?
Soon, Cariote put her fork down and said.
“I’ll ask her. I’m a woman with similar tendencies, so maybe Naru will find it easier to talk to me.”
“Oh, okay.”
Step—
Cariote picked up a plate of pork cutlets without saying a word and headed into the room where Naru was.
* * *
“Ugh… pork cutlets…”
Naru’s mind was fixated on the leftover pork cutlets.
Brigitte’s homemade pork cutlets were incredibly delicious.
It was saddening to see Naru leaving them untouched.
Swoosh—
At that moment, the pork cutlets entered the room.
Upon closer inspection, it was Cariote who was carrying the plate of pork cutlets.
“Naru, eat this.”
“Oh, holy shh… Cariote is an angel!”
Naru wrapped her arms around Cariote’s leg.
Cariote patiently waited for Naru to finish every last bite of the pork cutlets before calmly asking.
“Something happened at school, right? But it seems like you can’t tell your father, Judas. Did you get scolded by the teacher?”
“Ah…!”
“I can smell ointment on your palm. It must have been a palm strike. I’m a hunter. I can easily guess things with minimal information.”
“I… got in trouble for stealing money…”
“I see.”
Cariote understood the situation.
Naru had been scolded by the teacher on her first day, and she wanted to keep it a secret from her dad.
Of course, Cariote realized that the story of this incident was not the whole picture.
It was probably a somewhat complicated situation.
“So the teacher asked you to bring your parents. But maybe you don’t want to tell your dad because he might be sad?”
“Is that how it happened? Having to bring your parents, huh? School can be quite a hassle. Fine, tomorrow seems to be a rare day with some free time. I’ll go in place of your dad.”
“Oooh.”
“Black-haired folks are all family to me. I can go instead without any problem.”
Barbarian women often practiced communal childcare.
They would gather the children in one place, and all the village women would take care of them as if they were their own children. All the children regarded the village women as their mothers.
Although there obviously were some differences.
For this reason, Cariote decided to step in for Naru.
Moreover, it was an opportunity for her to enter the school premises “legally.”
With that feeling, time passed, and the next day arrived.
Cariote entered Graham Academy’s premises as Naru’s mother.
It was 8:30 a.m., just before the start of the first-period class.
Cariote headed towards the office where Salome, Naru’s homeroom teacher, was.
“Excuse me.”
As she opened the door, he saw the teachers inside.
Soon, one by one, they sent their gazes toward Cariote.
“She’s a beauty.”
“Who is that?”
Accustomed to such attention, Cariote turned her head slowly.
Then, she moved her eyes to find the pink-haired woman Naru had described.
Soon, she spotted a woman seated at a desk in the distance, signing various documents.
“Are you the elementary class teacher Salome?”
“Yes, but who are you?”
Thud—
Their gazes met for a moment.
A peculiar atmosphere began to flow.
Cariote then pushed Naru, who was hiding behind her, forward and said.
“I am Naru’s mother.”
“…What?”
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