“… According to the results from the MRI imaging process, she seems to be suffering from a temporary amnesia and entropy in mental age caused by the light head shock from earlier.”
Short hair and silver-rimmed gla.s.ses, dressed in a white hospital coat, this woman by the name of Ms. Anna gave off an air of professionalism.
If we were to pa.r.s.e through her dialogue and cut out any words of technical variety and scavenge together what’s left for a legible explanation, we would get the sentence from above.
But at least it’s a temporary symptom.
That’s some good news out of all the bad news.
“Er, so what should we do to turn her back to normal?”
If I recall correctly, one way to cure this would be to give another shock to her head and things would turn back to normal. Well, it’s not like I have a degree in brain science, so it’s probably an urban medical remedy that’s bound to have disastrous consequences.
“For now, I think it’d be best to take it slow and observe how things progress. In cases like this, the norm is to expose the patient to the everyday activity rather than progressing with a medical treatment.”
“Ah, I guess that"s that.”
So this is professional advice then? Looking at her coolly a.n.a.lyzing what the best course of action is in a mystifying situation like this, I feel embarra.s.sed that I was even considering trying out something out like ‘dropping another big one on her head".
I decided to nod my head in agreement, and went back to the task of observing Dorothy, who was now glued to my side rubbing her head against me, and humming in a cheery tone.
“What a bother.”
It was hard to believe the Dorothy here now was the same Dorothy that was crying her eyes out and yelling about how she didn’t want to separate from me when I told her she needed to take MRI and CT shots. There’s no way my little Dorothy can be this cute.
I suppose if I had to compare this with the times when Dorothy was positively dying to eat me up with her explosive fit of violence, then I suppose now was about 100 times better.
It’s certainly better, but…
“…Erm, Maria? You’re going to dig a hole through my face, so could you please stop glaring at me like that?”
The only downside to this were the glares that surrounded me.
In particular, Maria’s positively stony gazes that could burrow through a steel plate were really getting hard for me to take!
“Ha-ah.”
In the end, Maria breathed a contemplating sigh and shook her shoulders. What followed her sigh was not of acceptance, but of resolve?
Eh, wait, resolve for what…?
“It"s settled then! I have decided, from today that I, Maria, too shall act like a spoiled child just like Dorothy!”
“…Come again?”
“It is so! This girl is henceforth an innocent child shrouded in purity! I’ll be expecting Onii-sama to spoil me a lot ♡”
With that shocking revelation in place, Maria joined Dorothy in the all-important task of glomping me at my sides.
And while I was stewing in the agony of Maria’s sudden change in behaviour, Lily decided to chime in.
“Lily… too young.”
“The fact that you’re trying to use your age as an advantage proves that you’re not young enough!”
“…You, too noisy.”
Bam...
In more ways than one, there was a punch directed my way at terminal velocity.
I collapsed in a state of knock-out from right where I was standing.
◇ ◆ ◇ “Uwahhh! Heavy, you’re too heavy!”
The two Dorothy sisters and Lily were busy riding on my back. Like some kind of a zombie after nuclear fallout, I spent the days shuffling about the streets with the load weighting me down.The things weighting down a soldier carrying 25 kilogram worth of equipment times two in a patrol is not only his physical strain, but the mental strain on his mind as well. I felt like I was about to fall into the same state of mind these girls were in in if I couldn’t cope with the line of baggage trailing behind me.
“Fu, fufu! I will never let go! The girl you see before you is only a mere toddler of whitest purity, a manifestation of innocence! Try to shake me off, if you can!”
“Yeah, yeah! Dorothy will also cling to Onii-chan with Onee-chan so we can get really, really spoiled.”
“…Wah.”
“Hey Lily! What’s with that flat-tone baby cry like you’re reading off a book? That’s on purpose, right? Is it on purpose? It is on purpose!!”
“Hmph. You, stupid?”
And she was topping off the whole thing by blatantly shining a sinister smile my way. It was clear that she was enjoying this whole thing. It was surprising to me as to how devious a kid like her could be.
“Gyaaaahh! If you guys keep this up, your Onii-sama is going to have a broken back! Are you going to be responsible for that?”
“No, not yet! Onii-sama! This girl will not allow you to be tired already just from this level of play!”
“Lily will give you an experience so hard your hips won"t ever last without ♡”
“Keep something other people will obviously misunderstand to yourself!”
I wasn’t sure as to whether they intended to include those innuendos in their sentences, but it made me feel worried enough to tell them to sock it. Though, I should remind myself that we were located in a mysterious mansion in the countryside.
“He-eh? What do you mean?”
While we were busy sorting out this mess of communication, Dorothy did nothing but lean her head in curiosity and asked for the meaning behind our conversation.
“Dangerous world of adults… it’s not for kids.”
Following that, Lily proceeded to lay down a few tons of nuclear warhead worth of unnecessary misunderstanding by the cartload.
“W-world of adults…?!”
Hearing that, Dorothy’s face paled in colour and the seed of misunderstanding sowed within her blossomed into an extravagant bouquet.
Really, don’t you think this overused pattern of events has been abused enough? This is just too much!”
“B-but Dorothy is eleven years old now! I’ve been having menstruations and my b.o.o.bs have been getting bigger! So that’s why Dorothy is considered an adult now!”
“I’m sorry for getting your hopes up but this is for all-ages! It’s not like I’m being tempted by anything here!”
“Fu, smaller b.r.e.a.s.t.s than Lily… Proof of a child.”
“You two are about the same anyway, who cares!”
Hearing that Dorothy was ‘only’ eleven years old, Lily retained back her victory smile, taking an ‘adult comfort’ in the fact that she was twelve. It was really a ridiculous setting taking place. Not that the setting that she was eleven years old was any more convincing, either.
Anyways, the proof she claimed was surprisingly solid on its own.
“Don’twannadon’twannadon’twanna! Dorothy wants to join too! Let Dorothy join! Please let Dorothy join!”
“Establishing authorities between things allowed and things not… Adult’s responsibility!”
Holy h.e.l.l, this d.a.m.ned brat was literally throwing Molotov c.o.c.ktails onto an oil tanker set on fire. Her haughty posture and her habit of adding ‘Ahem!’ after every sentence clearly told me that she was enjoying how things were progressing; a textbook definition of a small devil in action.
Haha, these girls.
Little girls should act like little girls every once in a while, should they not? I don’t think it’s too unreasonable to ask for that every now and then.
Is it not so?
“Do not delude yourself! I have repeated this time after time, but I cannot allow Onii-sama to take a bride anyone other than myself, Maria Lunalady Blackhazel!”
“Hmph, this over-aged bimbo.”
“Fuhooooooooop-!”
And with Maria’s interruption, Lily was quick to change her stance on superiority in age in a matter of seconds.
I could find no word to describe her quick wit other than ‘divine premonition.’
“Uuu! That’s selfish, Maria Onee-chan!”
“…”
Halt.
It was in that moment.
In a moment that I never expected, a scene back then that has been engraved into my mind over and over, a déjà vu happened to strike me.
Maria Onee-chan, she said?
“Dorothy is going to become Onii-chan’s bride, not Onee-chan!”
“D, Dorothy!? Might I need to remind you that cutting in line will not be tolerated here!?”
“Hmph! Don’twanna!”
The girls before me were demanding an answer over something in my direction.
It seemed like they were having a sisterly quarrel of some sort over me.
「About which of us…」
「You’ll take as your one and only bride!」
Ahh, it was so.
So, it was like that.
Struggling to live while sandwiched between the grasp of Maria, the Dorothy sisters and Lily, I came to my own personal conclusion to the doubt that was clouding over my mind for some time now.
It was a dream of childhood happiness I had experienced with the two Blackhazel sisters when I was young, back at the mansion.
Just how much did things change for me to trick my very own conscience over this gap in memory and time?
At this point, I’m really amazed. Not that these brats here were any less lacking in the surprise meter.
“…Well.”
But it wasn’t as if I had some kind of particular complaint towards this life I had now.
Even if I was busy, tired, and without respite every day, this noisy and enjoyable mess of everyday life filled me to the brim with happiness.
It’s not as bad as one would imagine.
Does not everyone think that way?
The two little sisters I had were kind beyond word, and I was in a sense, ‘blessed’, that I was lucky enough to live along with these two sincere children.
That was why my dream from back then was a life of happiness, and the life I had right now wasn’t too different from it.
Haha, speaking like this, I feel like I’m some kind of lucky b.a.s.t.a.r.d.
In the end, it’s not too far from the truth.
I’ve had my share of rough slice of life until now.
But even then.
As the one and only Onii-sama of Maria and Dorothy, the two beautiful twin sisters without a match in this world, I was blessed beyond words for this life I was living right now. I daresay no one else in the world gets a lucky opportunity like this.
“…Well, it’s not like I’m losing anything to be a little thankful for what I have.”
As I have said before, this was the peaceful every day of Blackhazel Manor like any other day, like it has been as always.
◇ ◆ ◇
“Ugyaaaah!
And, the following day, another familiar scream ringed throughout the mansion, accompanied by another familiar sound of something breaking.