Chapter 105: Chapter 0

Translator: Cyrus

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I am Nowa Kurisu. I am a genius.

I was able to stand on my own two feet at the age of one. When I was five, I boasted superior intellect putting adults to shame. At the mere age of ten, I mastered the English language. And by the time I was fifteen, I mastered each and every kind of housework while also going to school. I am a super genius girl.

Because the Japanese education system proved too limiting for a genius such as I, I am studying abroad in England where one is allowed to skip grades, which I did in the blink of an eye. Now I am sixteen years old, attending a historical and prestigious university.

Since I was ten years old, I have been living here in England, always making breakfast in the kitchen.

Having spent almost half of my life in England, the Edward family has kindly taken care of me due to my parents’ connections.

The Edwards are a family of two, a mother and a daughter. The mother, Miss Evelia, doesn’t come home often because she’s the sole breadwinner of the family. As such, her daughter Michelie and I are managing the house……

“Yo-ho, little Kurisu. I’m home. It’s another good morning today!”

……It’s still early in the morning, but she’s announcing her return so loudly.

Her eyes are as blue as the clear sky. She has voluminous blond hair, which has been passed down to her daughter as well. Even though she’s way beyond her thirties, she looks a lot younger than that. On top of that, her demeanor is a little childish. One would probably mistake her for a teenager.

“Did you sleep well, Kurisu? I didn’t sleep a wink! I can still keep working, but oh, how short each day is!”

“Ah, Miss Evelia. Good morning”

It seems she’s stayed up all night, yet she’s not bothered by it. She’s always so energetic.

Miss Evelia is a researcher in a company. She basically stays overnight doing research and development, so she rarely comes home.

“It’s rare for you to come home. Did you need something?”

“Yeah. there’s a small event happening today. Are you going to the university today, Kurisu? Michelie is an idiot, so I’m a little envious of your excellence in school. Oh, can I have some breakfast?”

She takes some of the food and eats it while happily going on and on.

I’m so used to her behaving as she pleases even though she’s over thirty years old, I no longer feel like reproving her.

“You’re harsh on your daughter, as always. Michelie is a really good girl.”

“No, no. She’s an idiot, I say. It’s not that she doesn’t have brains, but she doesn’t know how to use it. I wonder how my very own daughter became this way. It’s a mystery.”

I wonder if she’s been a bad example for Michelie.

Just before she took me in, I didn’t talk to her at all. She mistook me for a naive person. I’ve never told her, but it’s a little difficult for me to deal with people with her personality. Even as a genius, I’m not perfect in many aspects.

“It looks like Michelie is still sleeping, so could you quiet down just a little?

“Hmm?”

It’s still early, and Michelie is usually sleeping at this time.

Evelia is tilting her head exaggeratedly.

“My idiot daughter is probably just pretending to be sleeping. She’s an attention seeker–”

“Shut up mom!”

“–*cough*”

Michelie comes downstairs and hits her own mother with her pillow without hesitation.

She probably woke up from the noise. She’s already in her school uniform. Her usual gentle smile is replaced with an angry face that she rarely shows.

“Why are you acting as you please?! If you’re going to make so much noise when you come home, you might as well stay away!”

“What are you talking about? This is my home, you know?”

“I’ll take it from you and chase you out!”

Michelie got off on the wrong side of the bed, and is saying ridiculous things.

“And don’t put any weird ideas into my sister’s head. What are you gonna do if she looks at me differently?!”

“I’ve thought about this for a long time, Michelie. Who are you calling your sister?”

“Huh? You’re asking that now?”

Michelie started calling me ‘sister’ around the first time we met.

“I mean, you’re my only daughter, and Kurisu isn’t mine.”

“Sister is sister! It has nothing to do with you, mother!”

“And my only daughter is such a strange girl.”

“What’s up with that? You’ve never acted like a parent. And you’re the strange one, mother!”

Michelie sticks out her tongue in such an adorable manner. The still youthful Miss Evelia doesn’t show her an ounce of guilt.

“Ooh? I can’t help it, Michelie. The world needs my brain and inspiration. I have to bury my head in research in order to make a breakthrough in technology. Of course I have no time for my daughter!”

Miss Evelia is being rather heartless. Michelie looks at her with puppy eyes.

They are a dangerous combination. It’s hard to understand Miss Evelia at first glance because of her nonsensical attitude, but in particular, Michelie seems to detest her as a mother.

Miss Evelia is to blame for abandoning her child.

But I would say that the fact that Michelie is able to express her emotions like this is a good thing.

When I first came to England, Michelie was so fragile, it seemed like she would shatter like glass.

“Okay, okay. Michelie, let’s leave it at that.”

“Grr……”

I rest my palm on Michelie’s head before it turns into a full-scale argument.

That’s the kind of person Miss Evelia is. There’s no changing her personality.

“Let’s have breakfast. You too, Miss Evelia.”

“……Yeah. I love my sister’s breakfast.”

She changes her sulky expression upside down, showing a sweet smile.

Yeah. She’s adorable. With this smile as my motivation, I have perfected by cooking skills after coming to England.

Michelie takes a seat and stares straight at Miss Evelia.

“Yay, it’s been so long since I’ve had breakfast you made!”

“……You bum. I’m going to tell Miss Mariwa later that it’s taken you eighty-seven days for you to come home.”

“Don’t do that, please?! Mariwa is scary, you know?!”

It’s the first time I’ve seen her carefree attitude give way to fear today.

Mariwa is a professor in my university. Even though she’s a woman, she’s teaching in such an authoritative university. She’s extremely strict and frightening. It seems like she’s an old acquaintance of Miss Evelia, and since she knows that Miss Evelia is taking care of me, she’s doubly strict to me.

“Mariwa is scary. Yeah, she really is.”

“Right? Yup, I’m glad we see eye to eye. Since our graduation, the only times she makes me feel welcome is when I invite her to the lab, or ask her about her field of study, or talk about her lectures on artificial intelligence.”

“You can’t do that, sister. There’s no way this mother who neglects her own child would reflect on herself, and it’s not like she cares about anyone. It’s best if you don’t get involved with her.”

Michelie finishes her breakfast and continues insulting her own mother while standing up.

“Let’s go, sister. The more you talk to her, the more cocky she’ll get.”

“Huh?! Did you eat my breakfast too, Michelie?! You’ll get fat!”

“T-there’s no way I’ll get fat, stupid mother!”

Such was their rather friendly banter. It’s better than it was when they were too hostile to argue with each other.

As I get home from the university, I see a bamboo planted in the garden.

It’s so out of place that it seems surreal.

“How’s this?!”

“……Where did you even manage to find one?”

That’s all I manage to say.

Bamboos are plants that thrive in warm and humid areas with high altitude. They don’t grow in many places in Europe.

I don’t have to mention who planted the bamboo here.

Miss Evelia is turning a full round while standing on the roots of the bamboo, proudly showing it off.

“You don’t know? Bamboos are rather popular for gardening, so you can find one if you look.”

“Huh, I didn’t know that.”

Even then, I can’t help but stare at it. It looks like a normal bamboo from afar, but it’s actually decorated.

“It’s the Seventh of July today. I was thinking about you, so I bought it.”

“I see…… But why so sudden?”

I’m grateful for her sentiments. It’s been almost five years since I’ve been under her care, but we’ve never celebrated Tanabata.

Miss Evelia answers my question nonchalantly.

“I felt like it.”

I see. That’s how she is.

Her tendency to act on impulse is second to none. She’ll carry on thoughtlessly causing trouble for others until the end of their lives.

“……Why a bamboo?”

Michelie, who joined me on the way home, doesn’t seem to be able to grasp the reason why there’s a bamboo in her own house. She’s giving her own mother a perplexed look.

I’m making a riddle in order to dispel her doubts.

“What day is the Seventh of July?”

“Independence Day for Solomon Islands?”

“That’s certainly an important day……”

It is indeed the day on which the Solomon Islands gained independence from England.

Although it’s an important event, I’m Japanese after all.

“It’s Tanabata today.”

“Tanabata?”

“It’s a celebration in Japan. They celebrate by eating dango, making fireworks, and wishing upon the stars.”

“Miss Evelia, why are you mixing so many things up?”

She’s probably confusing Tanabata with the summer festival.

“For Tanabata, we write our wishes on small pieces of paper and decorate bamboos with them.”

“Hmm. Wishes……”

Miss Evelia looks curiously at Michelie who’s already scribbling her wish.

‘I wish my mother’s research will end in an explosive failure.’

“Why are you writing such an unlucky wish?!”

“That’s what I really wish for.”

Seeing them fool around with each other makes me give a wry smile as I write my own wish.

‘I wish everyone will get along with each other.’

“Kurisu, aren’t we already getting along?”

“Well, this is directed to you and Michelie.”

“That’s impossible, sister. Even if it’s your wish.”

“Yeah, yeah. Still, I’m glad we’re celebrating this event.”

I made sure that I had their attention before presenting my shopping bag.

“I thought we should spend the day in luxury.”

““Eh?!””

Their eyes are wide open.

“Yay! I love your delicious cooking, Kurisu! I love you too!”

“Oh, that’s not fair, mother! I love her much more than you do!!!”

I ignore their argument and take a peek at the piece of paper that Miss Evelia had already decorated on the bamboo.

‘I wish for world peace.’

I couldn’t help but make a wry smile at her grand, foolish wish.

“……Heheh. I’ll get started now, so I’m going inside.”

“Ah, I’ll eat it all up!”

“Sister, I’ll tie mother up and leave her rolling on the ground, so don’t worry.”

“Why are you saying such scary things?!”

They hurry up and follow me inside.

Michelie’s indirect wish for her mother to come home more often, my wish for everyone in the family to get along, and Miss Evelia’s wish for world peace, are hanging outside on the bamboo.

The wind is blowing gently on our three wishes.