Chapter 7: My unusual family
MC POV:
"*Sigh* Finally home..." I muttered to myself.
"Mom! Dad! We are home!" exclaimed a boy while entering right after me.
His name was Rito, my younger brother, born ten months after the Yuki couple found and adopted me. His hair is a spiky mix of orange and brown, while his eyes are golden-brownish colored. Also, due to my caucasian appearance, he is quite a bit shorter than me, like most of the children I met.
Personality-wise, he is an exceptionally energetic and cheerful kid. Unfortunately for him, due to how close our age is, he developed a habit of comparing himself to me. He often gets jealous and complains when I do things better than him, but maybe due to being the main character, he also works hard to catch up, even at such a young age.
Just now, the two of us returned from kindergarten. To my dismay, our parents decided to send us to one renowned for educating children even before school. Since I have the mind of an adult, I can quickly finish the exercises they give us and get back to sleep, i.e. go inside The Orb, but I still find it bothersome. As for Rito, he is struggling quite a bit, but our 'rivalry' keeps him going.
"I guess they are busy," I said while turning towards Rito.
Actually, it's very likely that our mother isn't even home due to her job. As a fashion designer, she lacks the necessary tools to work from home, and since the release date of summer collections is fast approaching, she spends most of her time at her office. Our father, on the other hand, despite working from home, barely even has the time to sleep. He is a prime example of how hard it is to be a mangaka.
I immediately went towards his drawing studio and took a look inside. As I thought, he and his assistant were focused on their work and didn't even notice me.
Next, I checked the room adjacent to it. It was dimly lit and, based on the furniture alone, obviously belonged to a baby. It was the room of my one-year-old sister, Mikan.
After confirming she was sound asleep, I directed my steps toward the kitchen to prepare the dinner.
In any 'normal' family, it would be unthinkable for a child my age to cook. Fortunately or maybe not, my parents are far from ordinary. My mother, in particular, is a very free-spirited person and gets easily distracted.
At first, she was the one that took us to the city park to play, but after she left us there without saying anything after getting inspiration, our father took over. And that wasn't after she did it once. No, she did it FIVE times in a single week! It would be SEVEN if we didn't stay home for two days!
If not for how affectionate she is, I would have thought she was actively trying to abandon us...
On the other hand, our father is very dependable. At least, as long as he doesn't get completely immersed in his work. He always ensures that we have everything necessary and helps us when we don't understand something, but when he is close to the deadline, I get in charge of my siblings.
Since it would be impossible to hide how much my intelligence differed from ordinary kids, I decided not to, at least at home.
For the first year, I slept most of the time, excluding feeding time and occasional walks. Since The Orb influenced their minds to a certain degree and I was their first child, they didn't realize how unusually silent I was and that my diapers were always clean, one of my body's many peculiarities.
Then Rito was born and consumed most of their attention while giving me a better understanding of how a baby acts.
Once I was two years old, I decided it was time to start talking. If I said my parents were surprised, it would be an understatement. There was a good reason for that. I had no problems with pronunciation and spoke in full sentences. The same day I also started walking. I could have done that earlier since my body was stronger than it should be, but I decided otherwise. From that point onwards, the results of everything I did were better than they should. While my mother always seemed happy about it, exclaiming "Amazing!" and such, my father just stopped getting surprised after a while.
'Let's make some curry and rice,' I thought while moving a chair toward the kitchen worktop since I couldn't reach it yet.
When I became four years old and asked If I can cook, and help around the house, they disagreed, even with my mother's free-spirited nature, but after a while, I made them change their minds.
How? I did it without their permission and received scolding, but after doing that for a month without any incidents, they gave up.
That, however, combined with my apparent mental maturity, resulted in me becoming my sibling's full-time babysitter.
That wasn't that bad, however. Part of the reason why I started helping around the house was to start earning positive karma and to build the image of a talented, responsible older brother. As for the other reason, I just felt bad since they treated me no different than Rito, and not repaying them for all the love would feel horrible.
Back to the topic of karma, while I received The Orb to accomplish the mission Matrucksa gave me, I still created a MASSIVE karmic debt. I can't find a number with so many digits even in the memories of my past life...
It may not have been so if I had no free will and had to singlemindedly focus on finishing that mission, but the reality was different.
I retained free will and a big part of my past memories, keeping my personality intact. I also got access to a cheat package any reincarnator could dream of and no time limit to finish the mission.
That is why I have to keep helping people. That's the best way to accumulate good karma.
Although... Unless I save the world a hundred times, I am not sure when I will pay off the debt...
After I finished cooking, I prepared the plates for my father and his assistant and brought it to them since getting them out of the drawing studio seemed impossible. Then, I called Rito while making sure not to wake up our sister and prepared our portions.
Despite that, she woke up in the middle of our meal, accompanied by loud wailing.
Finishing my food with a speed that made Rito go wide-eyed, I went straight to her room to pick her up.
"Look who decided to wake up. Are we hungry?" I said with a smile after getting close to the crib and using [Telekinesis] to make myself float.
In response, she started giggling and stretching her little hands in my direction, so I picked her up. Then, I used the spell [Clean] to clean her diapers since there was no way in hell I would do it the traditional way, and I fed her. After that, together with Rito, we played with her until she got tired and fell asleep again.
"I am home~!" my mother announced after coming back.
Fortunately, she didn't wake up Mikan.
"Mom, please don't shout. Mikan is asleep," I reminded her.
"Ah, my bad," she replied. "I was just happy to be back home. Also, I have a surprise for you," added enthusiastically.
"What is it?" I inquired.
"Ta-dam! I got three tickets to that popular amusement park from my co-worker!" she replied while showing me the tickets.
"Eh?" escaped my mouth after seeing the tickets. "Can I see that?" I asked while pointing at the tickets in her hand.
"Of course," she replied and handed me the tickets.
This name... I recognize it.
"Amagi Brilliant Park..." I muttered.
Why? I remember that name, but it's from a completely different anime than To Love-ru. So, I am in an alternative version? Is it just a mix of these two anime, or are there more? I feel like my life will get a lot more complicated than I expected...
Deciding there was no point in worrying about such stuff, I stopped thinking about it. I will just give it my best as I planned and hope that things work out.
That being said, I still have to check it out.
"When can we go there?" I asked.
"Oh my, I didn't expect you to be so eager to go. Usually, you would say you would rather sleep than go to such a crowded place," my mom commented. "Hmmm, I think I can get a day off in two weeks. We can go at that time," she added.
"Great. Are you hungry? There is still some curry left," I said and accompanied my mother to the kitchen.