“Poof! Poof!”
“…….”
What do normal moms think when they see a baby playing with a real gun (without bullets)?
Well, I wasn’t really thinking straight.
How should I even interpret this situation?
“Baba Baba!”
“Um…”
“Bang! Bang!”
Hmm.
How do I put this…
Uh…
“What is going on?”
“Why?”
“No, what’s happening here…?”
I clearly saw it with my own eyes, and I’ve been watching our daughter for over 10 minutes.
The sight of our daughter playing alone with a gun just didn’t make sense.
Plus, Corbin was there too, playing with Charlotte and looking confused…
Of course, according to the boss, there were no bullets inside and it was just a toy level of gun, but…
I really wasn’t sure.
“…Why is she suddenly playing with a gun?”
“I just gave her one because she was looking at it curiously.”
“…You just gave it to her?”
“Of course. She’s my granddaughter; she should know how to handle a gun at least a little.”
“But for me…”
“You studied instead of playing with guns when you were young.”
“……..”
Well, I can’t argue with that.
It’s true the boss often encouraged ‘Lindera’ to play with guns and the like when she was little, but ‘Lindera’ really wasn’t interested in those things.
So, for a bunch of reasons, Charlotte ended up… playing with a gun.
The boss explained it something like that.
Of course, hearing that didn’t completely justify Charlotte playing with a gun.
No matter how open-minded I might be… that’s still a gun, right?
Charlotte has always been interested in toy swords from cartoons or movies, but this wasn’t a toy.
“Charlotte.”
“Yes?”
“Can you… give that gun to Mommy for a bit?”
“Okay!”
“…Thanks. I’ll give it back in a little while?”
“Okay!”
Our little Charlotte truly is kind.
Seeing her hand over a toy she loves so easily for her mom, I thought the education had been successful.
“Um…”
“What’s wrong?”
“This… gun…”
Holding the gun Charlotte gave me, I paused for a moment.
Just holding it, still.
I felt the cold steel, which was oddly familiar, and the heavy grip.
In many ways, it definitely didn’t look like an ordinary toy… yeah.
After mulling it over, I pulled the slide back and tried removing the magazine… doing various things.
And after all that, I was convinced.
“…This isn’t just an empty gun, is it?”
“Um.”
“No matter how you look at it, the material feels exactly like a real gun.”
“…Hmmm.”
This was definitely a real gun.
I might not be very interested in pistols or firearms, but I wasn’t dumb enough to not recognize such things.
I was sure.
“…Boss.”
“What is it? What’s the problem?”
“I mean, having a gun around… could be a bit of an issue, right?”
“There aren’t any bullets, and it’s not dangerous…”
“That’s besides the point! The kid doesn’t even have a sense of caution around guns; isn’t that dangerous?”
I was genuinely worried about that part.
Playing with a gun, I could somewhat understand…
I knew Charlotte had always been interested in toy swords.
So, I had given lots of careful education and reminders regarding that… so… I thought I’d been cautious there.
But had the boss really educated Charlotte about guns properly?
I couldn’t help that thought.
Did he really do well?
Hmm.
Hmm…
“Boss, did you tell Charlotte… not to look down the barrel of the gun or anything like that?”
“Of course, I told her those things.”
“And…?”
“Well… hmmm… what else did I tell her?”
“…Basically just that if she pulls the trigger, a bullet will come out, right?”
“…Hmm.”
…Yeah, it’s very clear he hadn’t told her the important stuff.
“…But isn’t that all you need to teach for a pistol?”
“…Boss.”
“She’s not going to shoot anyone anyway, there are no live rounds loaded, and she wouldn’t be able to get her hands on any bullets.”
“Boss.”
“Alright, alright. I’ll make sure to do some proper education about guns.”
…Hmm.
Okay.
Good.
That seemed to be the right thing to do.
I was shocked a bit, but ultimately, the most crucial thing was Charlotte’s safety.
It was better to deal with this now than have her fiddling around with firearms later and something bad happening.
“So, how did you spend the last three weeks with Charlotte?”
“It was fun. My granddaughter is just so cute, you know?”
“That’s true. Our daughter is absolutely…”
I glanced over at Charlotte.
She had just given me the gun and was now laughing and playing again with Corbin.
Ah… It was a charming sight, even if I hadn’t seen it in three weeks.
Her black hair, just like Corbin’s, was a bit longer now and absolutely adorable.
And those light blue eyes, just like mine, were super cute too.
Honestly, no one had ever said anything bad about her looks, so it was a given.
It was imperative that I worry about how Charlotte would cope when she starts school.
Imagine her getting confessing and ending up crying…
“Lindera, what strange thoughts are you having now?”
“I just think our Charlotte is too cute, I can’t help but think about it.”
“I don’t know, but worrying about a kid who hasn’t even turned five yet seems unnecessary.”
“…Is that so?”
“Kids tend to grow up better than you’d expect.”
“Uh-huh…”
I guess it shows he had experience with parenting.
He sounded quite confident.
Though the boss didn’t raise ‘Lindera’ from start to finish, he did raise her to a degree.
“Dad! Your face is all red!”
“Ah.”
“…Lindera.”
“Um…”
Everyone else in the room, aside from Charlotte, seemed to know about the source of my embarrassment.
Corbin and the boss suddenly turned to look at me.
It was clear.
There was no way to avoid their stares.
“Nothing, really. Um.”
“…Okay, I’m glad everything went well… really… that’s a relief.”
“…Yeah.”
Anyway, it was evidence that Corbin and I had gotten along very well, that we’d enjoyed ourselves while traveling.
Wasn’t that a good thing?
At least, I thought so.
*
“Dad! This is super delicious!”
“Really? How delicious is it? Should I try some too?”
“No way!”
After reuniting with Charlotte in a while, there were a lot of things to do, but the top priority was lunch.
We hadn’t eaten anything since arriving in Zone 07, and Charlotte and the boss had been waiting for us.
It was obvious.
“Charlotte, do you know what this is?”
“Uh… Dad, lying down on weekends!!”
“…No, that’s just shrimp.”
“Shrimp?”
“Shrimp.”
“Shrimp?”
“Shrimp.”
Corbin was playing with Charlotte on the side while the boss and I watched her with fond expressions.
In many ways… it was honestly quite entertaining.
“They live in the ocean, but they aren’t fish.”
“Fish?”
“Yeah, remember that giant fish your mom cooked for you, the one with the big eyes?”
“Yeah!”
“These are friends that live in the same place.”
“Wow!”
…So cute.
I really couldn’t tell who she resembled more, but she was just my adorable daughter.
Honestly, after all the bouts of nausea and discomfort for months, perhaps the outcome was so good that I sometimes thought…
Maybe having a second child wouldn’t be too bad.
Just occasionally, I had that thought.
“Lindera.”
“Yes, boss?”
“How was the trip?”
“It was fun. I haven’t had a proper winter in a long time… and Zone 07 is completely the opposite.”
Not just the weather, but the variety of cultures, including clothing…
So much difference, it felt good.
“And the hotel you arranged for us was really nice too.”
“Yeah, I’ve heard that.”
“…Huh?”
“I heard the hotel staff had some trouble in various ways.”
“Ah.”
“…It’s a hotel with good soundproofing, but I heard it could get a bit noisy.”
“Um… but… you wanted us to use it for that purpose, so you told us to keep using it until we needed it, right?”
“That’s true.”
The boss admitted it easily.
Because my words were indeed what the boss had meant.
In the first place, it was strange for a couple who liked each other to travel without those kinds of things happening.
On top of which, the boss suddenly made plans before we could even think about it and covered the hotel costs…
It was clear it was all the boss’s plan from the start.
“So, did you have a good time?”
“We did in many ways…”
…Honestly, I did have a lot of memorable moments, but the one that stuck in my mind the most was with Corbin.
That wasn’t really my fault.
It wasn’t because I was a pervert or anything; it was just that we did it a lot.
I didn’t even suggest it; it all happened thanks to Corbin.
There was nothing I could do.
“…But we’re not preparing for a second one yet.”
“Is that so?”
“Yeah. Of course if we had a second one… I think both Charlotte and we would be happy.”
But I truly hadn’t thought about having a second child at all.
Charlotte was absolutely adorable, and every time I saw her, I felt like I would die from her cuteness…
But pregnancy is not something you just wing it!
It needed proper discussions and agreements with Corbin.
Of course, even if an unplanned pregnancy occurred, it wouldn’t be an enormous problem any longer.
Because Charlotte had grown up way more than before.
She wasn’t quite three yet, but she had surely matured a lot.
Now she could walk around on her own and spoke more fluently than before.
In many ways… things had improved compared to before.
Of course, I had no intention of getting pregnant right now?
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