About the Reckless Girl Who Kept Challenging a Reborn Man Like Me - Volume 1 Chapter 5: As Difficult and Calm as a Heavy Snowfall

It was an ordinary morning in early December. It was nothing out of the ordinary.

 

The cold winter has quietly begun to permeate the world, and the snow outside is finally beginning to flicker. The dusting of the snow is slowly wetting the ground, melting and disappearing in an instant.

 

Today’s snow was lovely and never piled up on the ground.

 

The weather is getting colder and colder as the days go by, but it’s very comfortable and warm inside the house, which is heated by various magic tools. I felt an indescribable sense of peace as I warmed myself by the fire of the stove and looked out the window at the cold snow outside. It was as peaceful as listening to the rain inside of a quiet house.

 

I was sitting on the sofa in the living room, reading the newspaper, when I felt a hint of snow falling. The coffee on the table warmed my body up from the inside. I had just finished reading the newspaper and was about to refill my coffee when the door to the living room slammed open.

 

“Oh, Yuki. Good morning.”

 

“Good morning.”

 

Yuki, my daughter, woke up and came out into the living room.

 

She was still sleepy and rubbing her lazy eyes. Her morning greeting faded into a haze, it was as if she hadn’t put any effort into it.

 

My daughter Yuki is eleven years old this year. She has the same pale blue hair as my wife, which she likes to grow and make it long. She likes cute things, and wears pajamas with mascot characters from various girls’ anime on them.

 

“Oh, Yuki, are you awake? Good morning.”

 

“Morning, mom.”

 

“Breakfast is almost ready, just wait for a bit.”

 

I wondered if it was the smell of breakfast that made her get up from bed. Her head still wasn’t spinning properly, but she was seated at the living room table. Her stomach made a rumbling sound, but she didn’t pay any attention to it.

 

“Ah, right. Yuki.”

 

“What? Dad?”

 

When I called out to her, Yuki’s face turned towards me and her small, half-open eyes looked at me, “Hmm?” she said.

 

“I’m going to go out shopping with mommy, are you free today? You wanna come out with us?”

 

“…………”

 

When I asked her that, Yuki’s half-lidded eyes fluttered open.  Her sleepy eyes were completely awake, and her big eyes looked at me with intensity.

 

Then she opened her mouth wide and let out a loud sound.

 

“NO!”

 

“…………”

 

“NO!”

 

With a simple and concise denial, she jumped out of her chair and hurried back to her room. I watched in stunning amazement as she trotted off with her long hair swinging behind her.

 

“Hahahahaha!”

 

Anya was busy laughing at me in the kitchen. She was holding her stomach. She was watching me get dumped by our daughter and was laughing hysterically.

 

“…………”

 

“Hahahahahahahaha!”

 

I’m damaged. It hurts so much. A deep wound is carved onto my chest, my body shook upon impact. Seeing that, my wife giggled happily.

　

 

My daughter Yuki is 11 years old. She’s a little bit mature for her current age.

 

She was currently in the midst of a raging rebellion against me.

 

“Yuki? Why don’t you and your dad play your usual board game today?”

 

“NO!”

 

“…………”

 

After shopping, I went and approached Yuki, who was currently in the living room.

 

I thought that if she was bored, she would come and play with me happily, but instead her reply was a very cheerful denial. She then turned away, shaking her long hair beautifully. It was a quick decision, a rejection that came a bit too quickly. My heart was aching.

 

“W-What? Yuki? D-Does Yuki not like the game…?”

 

“Dad, please don’t treat me like a child!”

 

She crossed her arms, fluffing her petite body. She huffed and sniffed at me.

 

“I won’t play such childish games anymore!”

 

“Noooo! Yuki! You’re still a child!”

 

“I’m not a child!”

 

Yuki was angry at my remark, her cheeks puffed out and she said,

 

“I’m busy! I don’t have any time to play with my father!”

 

“Eh? But you were sitting on the couch looking really bored.”

 

“I-I just got an appointment.”

 

To be treated with such disdain.

 

I know it’s not a good idea to care too much about a child this age, but as a father, it makes me very sad to see my daughter being so dismissive towards me. I have experienced firsthand the sadness of every single father all over the country.

 

“Why don’t you stop saying that and just and come play with us?”

 

“No!”

 

“How are your studies going lately? If there’s anything you don’t understand, I can teach you, okay?”

 

“Nope!”

 

“Are you not going to your dad?”

 

“Yes! Boo-hoo!”

 

There was nothing to help her with. I was in a pickle.

 

Then, with a sniffle, Yuki began to hurriedly prepare for her outing. She started to put on some simple makeup, which she had hardly ever done before. It was probably because she was trying to look a little older to me. She nodded her head in satisfaction in front of the mirror, and dressed up in the beautiful clothes that she had recently bought.

 

“Are you going somewhere? Yuki?”

 

“It’s Windo Shoppingu!” [TLN: Intentional misspelling]

 

It was probably something that she had just heard somewhere, but she still said it proudly, as if to say, “I already know about this stuff”.

 

“Are you going to buy some candy? I can give you some money for snacks, okay?”

 

“Don’t treat me like a child!”

 

She scolded me in retort to my words.

 

“Be careful with the cars, okay? And don’t follow anyone you don’t know!”

 

“Don’t treat me like a child!”

 

I got scolded yet again.

 

Yuki trotted to the door and put on her shoes. She ran out into the cold. I said good-bye to her, and she replied in a curt voice, “I’m off”. She’s a child who greets people very well, so I guess she’s quite easy to deal with even in her rebellious years. However, when I was left alone in the silent entrance hall after the door had been violently closed, a feeling of loneliness ran through my heart.

 

“Huh? Yuki? Has she left already?”

 

“Anya…”

 

“Noo, that was such an amazing rebellion phase of hers. ”

 

Anya, who had failed to see her daughter off as she stormed off, came up laughing at me. 

 

“No, I laughed at you this morning, but I didn’t expect that she wouldn’t even go shopping with you anymore. The stunned look on your face when Yuki said no was really funny!”

 

“That’s terrible of you to say.”

 

Anya laughed with her stomach, as if it was very fun and interesting to remember. I was pretty hurt and nodding off quietly. The women in my house are not nice to me at all.

 

“Well, it’s inevitable, it’s inevitable! It’s a father’s job to get hated by his daughter during her rebellious phase.”

 

“Haa~, I guess I need to learn to understand.”

 

I could only sigh at those words.

 

“I kinda understand.”

 

Anya said.

 

“You understand?”

 

“Her feelings. ‘Don’t treat me like a child’, isn’t that what she’s been telling me so much lately?”

 

“Ahh, so she wants to grow older then?”

 

“No, Aren’t you a bit too…protective?”

 

Anya stared into the distance as she followed Yuki’s invisible form through the door.

 

“She’s smart, isn’t she? She doesn’t have anyone to compete with, I’m sure.”

 

“I see…”

 

“I’m bored out of my mind. Oh, do you want me to make you some coffee?”

 

“Thank you. I’ll take it.”

 

We returned to the living room with hot coffee in our hands.

 

It may sound like I’m being silly by saying this, but Yuki is a smart kid. She probably inherited a lot of Anya’s blood, but she scored a perfect 100 on most of her tests at the elementary school. Not only that though, she also topped the most difficult tests given to her at the cram school.

 

She was a promising girl, full of talent.

 

When she was in the lower grades of elementary school, she was always happy to show us whenever she got a good score on a test. We would praise her for her hard work and pat her on the head, and then she’d look really happy. But someday, she just stopped being happy whenever she got 100 points and stopped showing it off to us. In her mind, getting 100 points had become a matter of course. Lately, I’ve been seeing this behavior in the tests at a cram school where many smart kids gather together. It seems that being number one with 100 points has become an everyday thing for someone like her.

 

“I thought I knew the signs before, but well, that’s what triggered her rebellion.”

 

“I think I would have rebelled if I didn’t have any rivals too. Getting a good score without anyone to compete isn’t really rewarding for me. I don’t think the adult world would change her boredom though.”

 

Anya let out a small sigh. Maybe she was comparing her past self with her current daughter. The person who understands Yuki the most is definitely Anya. She is the one who understands Yuki the most, because she has experienced the pain of being a genius in the past.

 

“That’s a problem I can’t understand.”

 

“Really? If you were reincarnated or something, your childhood would be boring as hell, don’t you think?”

 

When I was a boy, I too was called a child prodigy. However, it was not because I was full of talent.

 

It was because I had been reincarnated. I was just making use of my past experiences, and I am not a genius. I’ve only told this fact to my wife, Anya.

 

“Yuki’s boredom and my boredom are very different in nature. Besides, I died after a busy working day in society, so boredom was paradise for someone like me.”

 

“You were a company slave in your previous life.”

 

“I was a company slave in my previous life.”

 

She looked away. No, being a schoolteacher is still difficult too, you know.

 

I once suspected that Yuki might be a reincarnated person too. Yuki is very smart, and since I was one, that possibility came to mind. So I went ahead and asked her questions like ‘Do you think you have a past life?’ ‘What do you think your previous life was like?’.

 

As a result, it seems she wasn’t a reincarnated person after all. “I think my previous life was in a candy house! She said something incomprehensible like that. I’m not sure what to make of her answer if I’m honest… Geniuses are an immeasurable thing to understand, and as an ordinary person, I couldn’t ever understand her answer. You’re going to get eaten, you know.

 

Yuki is considered to be just a smart kid because her mental age is very young for a smart kid.

 

“Anyway, what I’m trying to say is that I don’t think I’ll ever be able to understand Yuki’s boredom. Anya, since you’re both really smart, maybe you can understand how she feels?”

 

“Somewhat. I was very motivated at the time.”

 

“Thank you for that time.”

 

She truly is a genius to be able to compete with a reincarnated person like me.

 

“What can I do for Yuki? I wish there was someone who could compete with her.”

 

“If it were that easy, she wouldn’t be called a child prodigy, you know. The cram school she’s going to is the most difficult one in the area.”

 

“It’s a difficult problem.”

 

I don’t understand the loneliness of a genius. I couldn’t ever possibly understand it. Geniuses are lonely because there are so few people who can truly understand them.

 

Still, Anya sipped her warm coffee like it was no big deal.

 

“Well, as long as she stays healthy, that’s all I need. I don’t care if she’s bored or anything. As long as she’s alive and well, that’s enough for me. If you want to ask for more than that, you’ll get punished. You’ll have to put up with a lot of rebellion and indifference from now on.”

 

“Yeah…”

 

Yuki has a history of serious illnesses inflicted upon her.

 

The surgery was a success, and her condition has been stable ever since. She still has to go to the hospital for check ups just in case, but other than that, she is mostly healthy and doesn’t get sick very often anymore. But the scary thing about this disease is that until a few decades ago, there was no cure for it at all, and the mortality rate was very high.

 

Although it’s not something to be feared about these days, thinking that Yuki was suffering from such a disease scared me.

 

I’m really glad we live in this current era. I’m so glad that I was born in this era. I couldn’t help but think that from the bottom of my heart.

 

“Yes, you’re right. It’s enough that she’s healthy. I’ll just have to put up with Yuki not giving me any attention from now onwards.”

 

“Keep doing that, trying to do anything during her rebellious phase will just be counterproductive to yourself. Just watch over her quietly.”

 

“Anya has grown up, hasn’t she? Aren’t you older than me?”

 

Anya is so calm about her daughter’s rebellion, while I, on the other hand, am extremely flustered.

 

“It’s because I’ve never had Yuki rebel against me like that.”

 

“Huh…?”

 

“You’re the only one who’s getting smoked, Dad?”

 

Guh! GuguGugu……! Gggggg! ……!

 

I’m in pain! My heart is in pain! I know that it’s a father’s job to make his daughter hate him, but this is so painful! Is this it? In the future, will I be the only one left out of the group? Will Anya and Yuki be going out together and leave me all alone at home? This is so sad.

 

“Maybe it won’t be long before she asks to do her laundry separately from her father’s.”

 

“Stop, I can easily imagine that happening sometime soon.”

 

“Hahaha!”

 

Just thinking about it makes my heart ache. “You stink dad.”

 

Gggghhh! That’s so harsh! When I wasn’t a parent yet, I used to wonder why the fathers of the world were so sad about having their laundry done separately. Now that I know what it’s like to be a parent, this is tough! Being mistreated by my loving daughter. This is so painful!

 

“I told him too, you know? I told my dad to do the laundry separately as well.”

 

“Poor father-in-law, I feel sorry for you.”

 

It is said that the heart of a parent does not know the heart of a child, but being a parent myself, I understand the feeling of pain and suffering. Maybe I should invite my father-in-law out for a drink next time. I want to share this pain with him as well.

 

“Mom, Dad, what are you talking about?”

 

“Ah, Halle.”

 

“Where did Nee-chan go?”

 

My son, Halle, came into the living room all of a sudden.

 

Halle is seven years old, four years younger than his sister Yuki. Although he’s a boy, he is still small and very cute, and we had just gone shopping together recently. I thought he was busy sleeping in his room because he was so tired, but he wasn’t. The energy of a seven-year-old is a force to be reckoned with.

 

“Nee-chan went out?”

 

“Outing.”

 

“Halle, would you like to play a board game with your mom and dad?”

 

Halle replied with a twinkle in his eye.

 

“SURE!”

 

“Oh, right, right! Haelle is so cute. Okay. Let’s go and play with your dad.”

 

I hugged my son as he approached me. You’ll have to forgive me if I get excited at this. I’m not being bullied by this child, after all.

 

As a reincarnated person, I may have had less interaction with my parents than most people. No, of course there were many times when I was a real child, but those memories are farther back in my life than most other people, and they’ve slowly become a residue of memories that I can barely even remember today. I’m sure that I was a terrible child in this life. Maybe I should invite my mom and dad over for a drink sometime, and we can talk about the past and have some dinner together.

 

I’m going to do my filial duty, which I’m pretty late for.

 

“Halle is so cute.”

 

“I wonder when Halle will start to rebel?”

 

…Don’t say such depressing things, Anya.

 

Such was my ordinary life these days.

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TLN: Huge thanks to Spynine01 for editing this. I won’t be able to tl more till after my exams so don’t expect any more chapters. Obligatory discord plug Kekw