Endure…… right, I have to endure.
The situation that surrounds me is that situation.
There are no fragments of malice.
On the contrary, everyone is kind and affectionate, it all those warm emotions.
So, why does it feel so bad……
Everyone’s words of good will, even with warm emotions such as kindness and affection, there are cases where it becomes troublesome.
But, their behavior itself is full of warm feelings…… that’s why I’m troubled.
What kind of situation I’m in……
A skinship festival, touching is OK.
It has kind of an erotic ring to it, but it’s nothing like that.
First, in the order, the participants (including parents, siblings and nanny) hug me→Rub my cheeks→Kiss on the forehead or cheek.
During that combo,
“Cute”
And the like of,
“Unbelievably smart for a one-year-old”
Anyhow, everyone praised me sweetly enough to give me a cavity.
The number of participants is different from my first rough calculation, there were at least one hundred people, because I have hugged only with lovers or people I was intimate with in my previous life, I’m not used to it that much.
I got fed up with it after thirty people.
To be frank, it’s annoying.
It might have been good if I was the beautiful Ozeusama1.
Naturally, that’s not the case.
It’s unreasonable to think that everyone is beautiful just because everyone in my family is exceptionally beautiful.
That’s only natural to think if you weren’t on a beautiful people festival.
It’s like a beautiful jewelry box~
Wait, wait, calm down, it’s not the time to go yet.
A certain person appears on the road surrounded by thousand people in my mind and waves his hand at me in a stay-cool manner.
You have saved me, the person among the thousand.
It’s not the time yet, the party has just begun.
Right, our party has just started!
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While the hug festival, the cheek rubbing festival, kiss festival are underway……
Mother Claire and Father Alek are now receiving presents.
I don’t know how many presents they have received are behind them, but although not placed directly on the floor, it must be big as a mountain by now.
The two parents receive the present, hand it to Elder brother and Elder sister, then a faint sound of them politely placing the present down can be heard.
I, who became exhausted by the three grand festivals is blankly staring at the empty space.
I honestly took it too lightly.
Annoyance? Will it go away after fifty people?
I know from the continuing hug, rub, kiss combo that there are more than hundred people.
Such thinking is absurd.
Isn’t this too absurd for a one-year-old?
It seems my silent, expressionless character has backfired.
Because my facial expression doesn’t change, the other party is not able to understand that I’m tired.
It would be alright just to say no, but I have no time for that as I’m constantly moved from the triple combo to another triple combo.
It appears that everyone finished their festival.
I feel a bit reproachful about my stamina which I cultivated from magical power (Temp) training.
I was close to passing when it was the last person’s turn.
It’s a loss if I think about it, it’s a loss if I think about it.
I got hugged, my cheeks were rubbed, and I got kissed.
This made me realize that this is indeed a different country from the one I have lived in before.
I have come to a really far off place……
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While staring at an empty space, diving into the sea of thoughts, someone lifted me up.
I moved my neck a bit to check, it was my Mother Claire.
The present ceremony seems to have ended.
Thank you for your hard word, Okaachan.
「Thank you very much for gathering to celebrate the birthday of the Second daughter of our Christophe House, Lilianne La Christophe, although the meals we have prepared are modest, please help yourselves」
Claire says words of gratitude.
“Lilianne La Christophe”
That is my formal name.
I got to know my full name one year after birth.
A middle name and family name? Lilianne and La and Christophe all together, is La my middle name? Is Christophe my surname?
Because I’m from a country in which middle names were not that common, I’m not sure if it’s my middle name or not.
Since this name is going to stay with me for life, I would like to know more about it.
Maa, I can leave it for when I grow up a bit more.
While in the sea of thoughts, Claire and Alek carry a small cut meal to my mouth.
Ham, ham, mokyu, mokyu.
I have recently grown a tooth, and I have become able to crush and eat slightly crunchier food.
Although I’m saying that, hard things are still impossible, slightly larger and a chewy food is also still impossible.
Because this is a birthday party, I can taste slightly different, high in taste food that I haven’t eaten before.
Although I do not have preferences, the taste of fruits and vegetables is better.
I don’t dislike meat and fish, but this dish is overall, lightly seasoned.
Are spices and flavorings not used very much here?
Do they give priority to the taste of the ingredients?
I thought it might have been because it’s food for babies, but I had a taste of Theo’s and Ellie’s dishes, but it was the same.
But it’s delicious enough, no I could get used to it, so it’s quite okay?
I thought I may be approaching the age I could start eating by myself, but Claire and…… especially Alek, happily carry the meal directly to my mouth.
When I saw their foolish overly doting parent expressions, I put the idea of grabbing the fork and eating myself to the corner of my heart.
It seems it will take a time to recover.
Maa, it’s a birthday party, and Alek usually do skinship like this because he’s busy at work, so I will endure it this time.
While thinking such and eating delicious food, a soft and fluffy something was carried to my mouth.
It has a sweet smell.
I eat it without minding it in particular.
「N!」
A voice unconsciously left from my lips.
No…… I have just announced that my expressionless character came to an end, being one years old and all.
There’s nothing wrong with letting a noise out or laughing.
But, the character I have kept for one year is unexpectedly strong, at this rate Kawaii~! Won’t the same thing from before happen again?
Because of that, letting out a voice while eating…… no…… because me letting a voice out is such rare occasion, a smile floated on Claire’s face who heard me.
「So Lily likes this cake, huh? Fufu, it was worth doing my best to make it~」
Claire says with hands on her cheeks while releasing magical power (Temp).
She’s releasing magical power (Temp) even though she’s not hugging me……
I admire the discovery of a new pattern while eating the soft and fluffy thing.
Iya, this is seriously delicious.
What is this, it’s so soft and fluffy, so smooth and sweet, simply delicious.
Being Claire’s handmade has also improved the taste.
My expression unconsciously relaxes.
When my expression relaxed, there were lots of voices coming from around.
I decide not to worry about it anymore.
Rather than that, right now more of that soft and fluffy! Old man! One more!
I demand by hitting the table.
◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆
After finishing the meal for the time being, the three great festivals resumed.
I thought that the festivals have already ended, what is going on?
I get hugged, my cheeks get rubbed, and I’m being kissed.
I entrust myself to them, but I’m quite tired as expected……
My stomach is full, if you move with my this much, you better prepare for reverse.
Although my stamina increased thanks to the magical power (Temp) practice, I’m still a baby, after all.
I’m already groggy, I’m on the verge of being KOed, my life is already at 0.
My consciousness became thin.
My eyelids are heavy……
Ah…… I want to eat the soft and fluffy……
Before I noticed, I was brought before my crib to sleep.
With a sudden Pachi sound, I open my eyes.
Manga-like sound would describe it as, KA! It was such sound effect-like noise.
Because I was just about to be placed in the crib to sleep, my eyes matched with Ena’s.
She was a little bit startled, but her usual gentle smile immediately returned.
「Did you woke up? Lily, it’s your first time in a place so full of people, isn’t it? You must be tired, you can go to sleep now?」
She was trying to persuade me, but my eyes are honestly open wide.
When I woke up, there was a dignified beauty-san in front of me, even though I see her every day, something like that would make my eyes open.
Besides, I wanted to insert a tsukkomi that I was tired only because of the touching OK festival.
Rather, once I thought about it, I have become completely awake!
◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆
One of the results of the constant practice is that the recovery power of my stamina has considerably increased.
There’s no fatigue at all!
Therefore, I fixedly stare at Ena.
I often demand reading aloud like this.
When being stared at, they could guess and would bring either toys or a book.
It was hard to convey my intentions without speaking, but even still, I was able to demand with 70% succession rate.
Even with the remaining 30%, I would just continue to stare so it was generally okay.
It’s the usual this time as well.
「You are completely awake~ Can’t be helped~ What shall we read?」
Reading aloud demand, successful.
As usual, Ena sits me on her knees and starts reading the book.
My hearing is already close to perfection.
Since scooping out words from the sentences are not so much required anymore, I practice with magical power (Temp), and lively move my hands and legs around at the same time.
It’s an illusion that I’m sitting quietly and listening during the reading time.
I have been moving my arms and legs like this all the time, so I’m already used to it.
Ena particularly doesn’t care about the choice of books.
What kind of book will she choose this time?
「Let’s see, this is my recent recommendation~ “Clam’s Life ~Intermediate level~”」
Ena-san, you have chosen a book about seafood again.
Elder brother Theo, trees. Elder sister Ellie, flowering plants.
When it comes to Ena, it’s seafood.
The extent isn’t as specialized as my sibling’s.
It’s safe to say that Ena’s interest covers anything that inhibits seas.
Starting from saltwater fish, she reads various books ranging from deep sea fish, seaweed, shellfish, plankton and others.
Shellfish seem to be her favorite.
Clams, snails, tusk shells, chitons, regardless whether it has a shell or not doesn’t matter to her as she is also interested in nudibranch, slugs, even a squid, and octopus.
As expected squid and octopus can’t be classified as shellfish, but because I don’t know much about them, I can’t classify them properly.
She said.
「If I had to choose a companion, it would probably be a shellfish」
She said some kind of wise remark.
By the way, I didn’t ask.
Maa, talking about the contents of the book “Clam’s Life ~Intermediate level~ this shellfish maniac Ena chose.
It started with a sudden super-development of a single clam living in the sand under the sea standing up on two shells.
Are……? Somehow, a deja vu…… certainly, a clam is bivalve, but……
This author…… is that perhaps the author of that work?
You meddle even with shellfishes now……
I practice magical power (Temp) control, move my limbs and listen to Ena.
The weight of importance already shifted to 3:1:6.
There’s a lot of importance on the listening.
That’s rare for me because I typically invest 70% of my concentration on the magical power (Temp) training.
The story continues.
The standing clam leads its childhood friend living next door to adulthood, they attend a school together, it’s a school life story of a youth with some trifling ero elements.
A clam’s adolescent school life.
If I think about it deeply, it will be my loss.
When the story approached its final stages, it developed into a triangle relationship with another clam that was trying to hit on the childhood friend clam.
Mother Claire entered the room.
「Lily-chan are you awake~? You had Ena to read you a book, I see~」
I was little curious about the conclusion of the triangle relationship, but the reading time ends here.
Claire holds me up in her arms and says that the party has almost over and she left Alek to deal with the guests.
It must be difficult to keep a company of so many people.
She must be quite tired herself.
Maa, there are no shadows of fatigue on my mother’s face, though.
Ena stood up while saying she will help to clean up and left the room.
She gave me a kiss on a forehead before leaving.
「Lily, happy birthday」
The smiling Ena waves her hand and left to clean up.
◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆
While just the two of us were left in the room, Claire was happily hugging me and releasing great amounts of magical power (Temp).
As always, I think if it’s all right for this much amount to be released, but I think that not showing the slightest bit of fatigue while releasing this much is amazing.
The release of magical power (Temp).
It’s a technique full of memories of difficult struggles.
That’s right…… I may be able to do it now just like she can.
After thinking so, I couldn’t stop.
The fluffy and warm Claire is releasing…… while imagining such, I release magical power (Temp).
In my cloudy eyes, Claire’s magical power (Temp) and my magical power (Temp) look like a pure white snow.
「Somehow, it feels like I’m being wrapped up by Lily~ …… Fufu…… happiness~」
She quietly whispers with a smiling face that shows true happiness and relaxation.
However, such whisper entered through my left ear and left from my right ear.
That’s because.
Something unbelievable.
It’s because something has reflected in the darkness and magical power (Temp) of my cloudy eyes.
That thing beside the window.
Walls have no magical power (Temp), so I naturally can’t see them.
I can’t see them, and it’s not like I can’t see through them outside.
I had the chance to touch the windows while I was being carried, there was a glass-like feeling, but I was able to see through them.
Sometimes, lumps of magical power (Temp) resembling birds were flying outside at high speed.
It certainly is in the place where Ena always wipes the window.
Tiny limbs.
Comparing the target with the size of a window…… comparing with the height of my Elder brother or Elder sister, it’s obviously small.
Measuring by eye, it probably doesn’t reach 20cm.
A thin, insect-like wings on its back.
An appearance of a human.
Like the one which appears in the stories, like the one from Neverland, that kind of feeling.
Fairy……?
I mutter absentmindedly in my head.
1.Remilia Scarlet from Touhou Project