10.3.6

As he always did, when Subaru awoke from slumber, he felt short of breath, as if his head were breaking the surface of the water.

The feeling was much like that of floating in a sea of unconsciousness, floating upward in search of the air called reality. Then, when his awakening lungs had breathed in enough of that reality, Subaru's mind awo—

"GOOD MOOOOOOOORNING, SOOOOON—!!"

"Hmrabhttnn?!"

That cool, refreshing morning, his poetic rise from slumber, was smashed to pieces by an incredibly destructive impact.

From above, something heavy squeezed the air out of his body, forcing Subaru to let out a cry much like a frog being squished. He batted the top of the futon away as he hacked and coughed.

"Hey, hey, heyyy, what's the matter? That's just my diving press to wake you up with love! Same as usual. Really gets those carelessness-is-your-greatest-enemy fires burning, huh?"

"Koff! Koff!… That's expecting way too…much from a guy who's asleep… Wait, just now…"

What the heck happened? he wondered, lifting his face with tearful eyes. As Subaru brought half his body out of bed, the other party pointed a finger to the ceiling right before Subaru's eyes.

And then—

"What is it with you? You've got the look of a guy looking at his father buck naked in the morning!"

It was his father—Kenichi Natsuki—as he posed half-naked there in the morning, blessing his son's awakening with a cackling laugh.