“Maybe I just wanted to be recognized by him. To be the best…”
The fact that he only wanted to be acknowledged as the best.
By the man he had idolized his entire life, Kurosawa Akira.
But the dead don’t speak, and thus his twisted desire for acknowledgment manifested as a crooked ambition.
That’s why the only one who could save Ichiro was Yuji, who inherited the name of the Swordmaster.
Just that, a childish story.
“How pathetic. I’ve done something shameful.”
Ichiro muttered in a small voice.
Shame washed over him.
Ichiro shook his head.
“So, what do you have to say to me, Kurosawa Yuji?”
“Stop treating Shinozaki Rin like a tool and abusing her.”
“That’s…”
Ichiro was left speechless.
“No matter how much she is orphaned, she is your child now. Rin is not a tool to project your twisted desires. She has her own life.”
Yuji’s voice pierced Ichiro’s ears like a dagger.
There was nothing wrong with his words.
Ichiro had merely treated Rin as a tool for the family.
A tool to erase the name of the Swordmaster and to elevate the family name.
Nothing more, nothing less.
‘Was it like that?’
He recalled his memory.
When he first saw Rin at the orphanage, he had actually felt pity for her.
When he had baked her a rice cake, watching her cherish it like a treasure, he found her adorable.
When she learned the Shinozaki style faster than his incompetent children, he had wanted to pat her head and praise her.
When she asked if she could call him ‘dad,’ he nearly answered yes.
When he visited Shuo Academy and heard the director belittle Rin, he had inwardly felt furious.
But he could never act on it.
If he showed any softness, he was sure he could never treat her as a tool again.
If he acknowledged her as a child, it felt like the tower he had painstakingly built would collapse.
He turned his back on his own kindness and deliberately treated her coldly.
“I am… the worst father and the worst hero.”
Ichiro touched his forehead with a weary voice.
Ichiro shook his head.
“I was truly a disgusting man.”
Lost in delusion and arrogance, just how far had he gone wrong until now?
He couldn’t bear to face Rin.
Ichiro ripped at his hair in frustration.
“If you realize that, you can apologize now and treat her well, your daughter.”
“…Thank you, Kurosawa Yuji. For awakening me to my ugliness.”
Ichiro lets out a chuckle.
If it weren’t for the boy in front of him…
His twisted heart and desires could have spiraled out of control, potentially leading to a grave mistake.
The person who saved him from the brink was the Son of the Sword Master.
What a joke of fate this is.
Yuji shakes his head.
“Please thank not me, but Kim, no. Kim Deok-Sung.”
“Kim Deok-Sung…?”
When the unexpected name spills from Yuji’s lips, Ichiro’s eyes widen.
“The first person to notice your twisted heart, the one who realized Rin was being mistreated, and the only one who could set you right—it was all him.”
Yuji places a hand on his chest and closes his eyes.
“I merely executed the plans he set. So, please direct your gratitude towards him—the one who worried for you and Rin and devised this entire plan.”
“What? Huh, ha ha ha ha, ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!”
Ichiro bursts into laughter, finding it amusing that the savior of the Japan Hero Association President is a student from the underdog nation, Korea.
“Well… I suppose I really didn’t misjudge people. Fine, as you say, I’ll thank him.”
“That’s all I needed to hear.”
Yuji sheaths the Kusunagi no Tsurugi.
With a clatter, the bamboo waterwheel in the garden drops to the ground, making a sound.
*
Academy Shopping District.
Parfait Shop.
At an outdoor table under a parasol, I’m sitting alone with Olivia, enjoying a special chocolate parfait.
“Hmph, hum hum, hum hum hum hum♪”
What’s got her in such a good mood? Olivia is scooping the parfait with a catchy tune.
It feels a bit awkward seeing her uncharacteristically without her tsundere outbursts for the first time in a while.
“It’s really delicious. I’m glad I came here.”
Ice cream smudged on Olivia’s cheek catches my eye.
Look at her, so clumsy.
I silently hand her a napkin.
Olivia’s blue eyes turn towards me.
“Hey! What do you mean by that?”
“You’ve got ice cream on your left cheek.”
“Ugh?!”
Olivia lets out a strange scream.
“Y-You should’ve told me sooner! You idiot! Fool! Sea cucumber! Sea squirt! Anemone! You’re like the world’s biggest dimwit who knows nothing about manners!!”
Her face turns beet red as she shouts.
Students at another outdoor table turn to look at us.
I thought she might just let it slide this time.
“Hmph… This is really the worst… Truly the lowest…”
Olivia pouts and wipes the ice cream off her cheek with the napkin.
She picks up her spoon and takes a bite of the parfait.
It’s tastier than I thought.
I now understand why light novels praise parfaits so much.
Just then, while taking another spoonful of parfait…
Bzzz.
My smartphone vibrates.
I check the screen.
[Kim. I won. Now you don’t have to worry about Rin.]
Yuji’s message.
As expected, the protagonist seems to have successfully saved Ichiro.
A smile appears on my lips.
Good.
Finally, I’ve severed the bad connection with Rin.
No need to reply to that guy’s message.
Let’s leave it unread.
Just as I was about to close the messenger…
[Thank you, Kim Deok-Sung. You are my savior.]
Another message arrives.
This one is from Shinozaki Ichiro.
What? Why is this guy suddenly acting like this?
Why am I your savior?
This is giving me the creeps.
Guess he always acts like this.
“You always act like this.”
Olivia was feeling quite good today.
Of course, she wouldn’t be seeing Nishizawa, who was busy with school community service, and Rin, who always annoyed her like a thorn in her side, was also absent from the academy today.
To top it off, she was sharing a special chocolate parfait with him, and soon they would be alone in the practice room for skill training, which made Olivia’s heart flutter.
“The only person who can be by your side is me, your exclusive maid. Hehehe.”
Feeling the leisure of victory after a long time.
Olivia scoffed inwardly at Rin and Nishizawa as she enjoyed her parfait.
After all, unworthy women could never be by his side.
“Unless they possess the dignity and elegance of a French princess like me.”
Unfortunately, there was no one in this academy who surpassed her.
Instead, only those who cling to him with vulgar words like offering their virginity and calling him “master” were around.
Images of Rin and Nishizawa flashed through Olivia’s mind.
“Vulgar, filthy, stray cats…
I can’t let someone like them take him away from me as his exclusive maid.
Absolutely not.
“Not that I have any personal feelings for him or anything!”
The memory of him handing her a napkin popped into her head.
Olivia’s face turned as red as a volcano.
“Ugh…”
Her heart raced.
“Who, who, who said I’m falling for a commoner? I am a French princess!”
Olivia shook her head vigorously.
She wasn’t falling for him.
Proudly denying her feelings while trying to scoop up more parfait.
Just then, she spotted Kim Deok-Sung looking at his phone.
“Yikes…”
A groan escaped Olivia’s lips.
Who was making her suffer like this?
She’d barely created an opportunity for just the two of them.
How dare he focus on his phone in front of the noble French princess, Olivia Napoleon Bonaparte!
It was unacceptable.
“Ugh! You! What are you looking at right now? Can you really pay attention to your phone when the noble French princess, Olivia Napoleon Bonaparte, is right in front of you?! You absolute fool of the universe!!”
Olivia shouted.
Kim Deok-Sung flinched and switched his phone to standby mode.
His gaze turned to Olivia.
Her face turned red.
Thump, thump.
Her heart raced again.
She was scared he would hear the pounding of her heart.
“Hmph. Anyway, there’s nothing appealing about you, is there?”
Olivia pouted as she took another bite of her parfait.
Her racing heart and flushed cheeks still couldn’t calm down.
Kim Deok-Sung remained silent.
His expressionless face was still irritating.
She didn’t like how he was pickily nibbling at the parfait instead of enjoying it.
“What are you doing not eating? It looks like I’m the only one eating! Ugh!”
With a thud.
Olivia jabbed her spoon into the parfait.
She brought a spoonful of chocolate cream and ice cream right to Kim Deok-Sung’s mouth.
“What’s this?”
Kim Deok-Sung said casually, looking at the spoon hovering in front of him.
Olivia bit her lip at the sight.
Fool, idiot, sea cucumber, sea squirt, anemone.
There’s a limit to annoyance.
Olivia’s face turned bright red.
“Do I have to say that to make you understand? Eat! I, your exclusive maid, am kindly feeding you!!”
“D-Do I really have to say it? Eat! Your very own maid is kindly feeding you, isn’t she!!”
Olivia’s heart races like it’s broken.
Her face feels hot.
“Fine, I’ll eat.”
Kim Deok-Sung takes a spoonful of the parfait.
“It’s delicious. Happy now?”
“Hmph.”
Olivia snorts and takes the empty spoon to scoop up more parfait.
Just as she’s about to eat it without thinking.
‘Wait, this is the spoon that person used, isn’t it?’
An unexpected fact strikes her mind.
Indeed.
The spoon Olivia is holding now has been in Kim Deok-Sung’s mouth.
Eating parfait with this spoon?
‘N-No way, it’s an indirect kiss…’
Olivia’s heart starts racing again.
Her face turns bright red from her cheeks to her neck.
‘W-What a dreadful thought…’
An indirect kiss with a stranger!
But she can’t exactly ask to swap spoons now, can she?
No, actually, she doesn’t want to…
“Ugh… No way!”
Olivia shakes her head vigorously.
“What’s with you all of a sudden?”
Kim Deok-Sung asks as he notices Olivia’s sudden burst.
Hearing his voice makes Olivia’s heart race even faster.
So embarrassing.
“It’s noisy! You pervert! Scoundrel!!”
Olivia stutters as she shovels parfait into her mouth.
For some reason, the parfait feels even sweeter today.
*
Shinozaki Mansion.
In the lord’s room overlooking the garden.
There sits Ichiro, the middle-aged man with green hair, sipping matcha.
Creak.
The sliding door to the tatami room opens, and in walks Rin, the beautiful girl with a navy blue ponytail.
“Did you call for me, Lord?”
Rin greets respectfully, sitting cross-legged before Ichiro.
“Get some snacks.”
Ichiro speaks in a gruff voice, sliding the snack tray towards Rin.
Rin’s eyes widen.
It’s common to face Ichiro.
It’s also common to see him eating snacks.
But he’s never offered her snacks before.
A flood of questions rises in Rin’s mind.
But in the Shinozaki family, questions are not allowed for her.
Only obey.
“…Understood, Lord.”
Rin bites into the wagashi placed on the tray.
The sweetness spreads in her mouth.
Seeing Rin eat the snacks brings a faint smile to Ichiro’s lips.
“…And don’t call me Lord from now on.”
“What do you mean by that…?”
Rin’s eyes grow bigger.
Don’t call him Lord? Then what should she call him?
As her head fills with question marks, Ichiro clears his throat and looks away.
“Call me Father. Ahem, cough.”
Father.
At those words, Rin’s heart skips a beat.
For an orphaned child like her, family had always been an unattainable ideal.
At first, she thought of the Shinozaki family as her family, but after realizing that was just an illusion, she lived with a hole in her heart.
But now, calling him Father…
“Really… Is it okay to call you that?”
She can’t believe it.
“Yeah. It’s fine. You’re not just a tool of the family; you’re the daughter of Shinozaki Ichiro. And…”
Ichiro fiddles with his teacup.
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