Coreal
patreon
[C.G] Ch 218: Onii-san?
🕑 Added 2025-08-15 19:01:48 +0000 UTC— — — — — —
"Shizuka, Shizuka—look over there! Isn't that the most adorable cute kid you've ever seen?"
Half an hour later, in the city's shopping district.
A short-haired woman, her hair brushing her shoulders, happened to glance toward a corner of the street. Her eyes instantly lit up, and without even looking back, she grabbed the arm of the person beside her—someone who had once been her teacher and was now her closest friend.
"I swear, Yukino wasn't even this cute at her age… what a crime~"
"Could you at least try to keep your voice down when you get creepy? We're still in public, you know."
It was supposed to be a rare day off, but she'd been dragged out shopping by the student who'd given her the most headaches in her entire teaching career. Shizuka Hiratsuka muttered, "Her mom's like my big sister, and she's like my little—ugh, what the hell is this relationship?"
Shizuka let out a helpless sigh. "Anyway, don't you think discussing someone's looks in public is… a little rude to the person you're talking about?"
"You mean Yukino?"
The woman tapped her chin thoughtfully. "Okay, maybe it's a bit inappropriate. I'll just apologize to her later."
"Who said I was talking about her? Whatever's going on between you sisters is none of my business, as long as you're having fun. I was talking about the other one—the one you think is prettier than Yukino."
"It's fine," a clear, pleasant voice chimed in from behind them—the very girl they had just been talking about. "I wouldn't get upset over something so small."
"Then let me thank you on behalf of this rude friend of mine for being so.... Huh?" Shizuka turned toward the voice—and froze.
"…O-Onii-san?"
She rubbed her eyes hard, just to make sure she wasn't seeing things. But no—there was no mistake. Holding that little girl's hand was the same mysterious man who had, more than twenty years ago, sold her nine martial arts manuals for ten yen each.
Shizuka, still in disbelief, stammered out the words.
"Onii-san?"
The rude woman beside her glanced between the two, her eyes glimmering with interest. Judging by the man's face, he didn't even look old enough for Shizuka to be calling him that. Maybe this was some kind of weird role-play?
Who would've guessed? Just the other day, when she'd visited Shizuka's home, Shizuka's mother had been muttering about how her daughter was pushing thirty, still single, and showing no signs of producing grandkids. Now here was a man she clearly had a special connection with.
No wonder she shot down every arranged marriage her parents tried to set up.
But… why was "Onii-san" here with a little girl in tow?
Judging by their ages, she couldn't be his daughter.
A younger sister, maybe?
"Onii-san?"
Kaguya Houraisan tilted her head and looked up at Veyron.
No wonder his "crowd dispersal" effect—where people unconsciously ignored them, and even the densest crowds parted to give them a one-meter buffer—hadn't worked on these two.
"Let's not just stand here in the street blocking foot traffic. How about we sit and talk over there?" Veyron pointed to a café by the roadside.
"…Alright."
Shizuka nodded.
— — —
Inside a small private booth, Shizuka kept glancing at the man across from her, as if debating how to start.
"Aren't you going to say something?"
Noticing her hesitation, Veyron spoke first, breaking the quiet.
Shizuka took a sip of coffee, trying to settle her thoughts. "Before I saw you, I thought there were so many things I wanted to ask… like why you gave me those nine manuals back then, or—"
"Not gave. Sold."
Veyron raised a finger and wagged it slightly. "And didn't I tell you at the time? I sold you those manuals because your talent was good—you had the makings of a martial arts prodigy."
"WAIT— manuals?"
The short-haired woman beside her, who had been all set to quietly enjoy the gossip, froze at the word.
"That's right—the kind of manuals you're thinking of," Shizuka confirmed, catching her expression. "Your Demonic Heaven Codex, Yukino's Longevity Chant, your mom's Yin-Yang way… all of them came from Big Brother here—ten yen apiece."
The woman, Haruno Yukinoshita, blinked. "…Huh?"
How much? Ten yen?
No wonder you originally said "gave."
But wait—if that's true, unless this guy was already in charge of selling mystical manuals when he was a little kid, just how old is he supposed to be?
Ignoring her friend's curious stare, Shizuka hesitated for a moment, then said, "Haruno, could you go to the counter and get me a few sugar cubes?"
"Sure~"
Pretending not to notice the sugar jar sitting right on the table, Haruno smiled, stood up, and stepped out.
"Daddy, should I leave too?"
Kaguya Houraisan tugged lightly at Veyron's sleeve.
"Well, since you're offering… just block your senses for a bit. She probably has something to say she doesn't want overheard." Veyron didn't refuse.
Kaguya lifted her small hand, and a pale moonlight shimmered around her, wrapping her in a soft glow.
"Alright, now you can speak. She can't hear a thing, and she can't read your lips either," Veyron told Shizuka.
"You two…"
Shizuka's brows lifted slightly. She was sure she'd just heard a rather shocking title come out of Kaguya's mouth.
"She's not my biological daughter, but… yeah, it's the kind of relationship you're imagining." Veyron gave a brief explanation, then continued, "But you didn't send Haruno away just to ask me that, did you?"
"…Her name is Haruno Yukinoshita. She's the daughter of Yukiko—my older sister. The one who met you with me back then."
Pushing aside her curiosity about Kaguya for now, Shizuka introduced Haruno's background, then took a deep breath. "Forgive me for asking so bluntly, but… do you know what's going on with... them?"
"Why not just ask if her daughters have anything to do with me?" Veyron smiled faintly.
"So…?"
Shizuka's expression grew complicated.
"You could say it has something to do with me… or that it doesn't."
He leaned back slightly.
If he said it did, it was because the "fate" he carried in this world was rather mixed.
Take the Yukinoshita family, for example.
The fate of Haruno and Yukino's father—Yukiko's husband— was now his.
If he said it didn't, it was because in terms of bloodline, both Haruno and Yukino inherited one hundred percent of Yukiko's blood. Biologically speaking, they had nothing to do with him as a "father."
But still, he was kind of a father in a way, even if he wasn't their real one.
So all Veyron did back then was make sure they were safe, wealthy, and that no one would ever call them "mistakes" or anything like that.
He arranged everything with the World Will—everything before he left World-5. Then the time acceleration plus the worlds' fusion thing happened.
.
.
.
