Coming from you?! Kyouhei thought instinctively, but obviously kept it silent.
Pamil alone was one thing, but a demonstration of eye-beams from a whole group of self-proclaimed royal body double androids, or the lightning that came out of their hands, would be impossible for Kyouhei to stop. He had to take great care not to provoke them.
“But... Mother...” Pamil objected with a confused expression, “I’m Kyouhei’s sister here.”
“That’s just an emergency measure, is it not?” Caleriette said. Her voice was still gentle, but hid a layer of iron beneath it, refusing to allow objections. “After all, which seems more natural, you as Kyouhei’s sister, or you as my daughter?”
Well, from appearances, there was certainly more in common between the two white women. Rather than Pamil acting as Kyouhei’s sister despite his yellower skin tone and their general facial differences, it made more sense for her to be Caleriette’s daughter—it just seemed more natural.
“But, legally, Kyouhei and I are—”
“We make our judgments on Bergmann laws; the laws of Japan have nothing to do with it. What was the word in Japanese again? Oh, yes, ex-tra-le-gal. Extra-legal.”
Well, to begin with, their relationship had been registered into the country’s records via Shuuhei’s extra-legal methods (to put it very delicately), so Kyouhei couldn’t really take a stand on the legal front.
“I know!” interjected Lorie, her eyes sparkling with sudden inspiration. “Everything will be fine if we adopt Kyouhei-oniisama?”
“It won’t,” Kyouhei answered.
“Eh? Why?”
“Because.”
“I thought it was a good idea...” she pouted unhappily.
Obviously, though, Kyouhei didn’t at all want to be part of a family in which all its members lived under the pretense of being body double androids for royalty.
...But is it really a fantasy? he suddenly thought to himself.
Pamil had powers far beyond what you’d call normal; that much was indisputable. Moreover, these people claiming to be body doubles of the Bergmann royal family had all come out of the same kind of coffin-cases as her.
Kyouhei couldn’t think of any explanation that was any better than “Maybe they really are body double androids for royalty.”
“Regardless... things cannot continue as they are, no?” Caleriette asked.
Despite her persistent gentleness and grace... Kyouhei could feel a slight undercurrent of anger in her voice.
Pamil grumbled and frowned.
Isn’t she happy to meet her family? Kyouhei thought to himself.
She’d been ill at ease the entire time she’d been with her parents and sister.
I’d get it if she didn’t get on with her dad or something, but it’s all of them.
Their claims alone made them a good match, though.
“What are your thoughts on this, Kyouhei-san?”
“Ah, well... I couldn’t... really comment,” Kyouhei managed, surprised at his opinion being sought. Pamil should be choosing her own path.
A heavy silence filled the air.
Suddenly, Dolph broke the silence with a nod and a noise of consideration, having remained wordless since introducing himself.
“It would seem we have a difference of opinion. Therefore, as king, and as father, I have a suggestion.”
The Bergmann family all waited quietly at the head of the family’s declaration. Even Kyouhei felt himself stiffen at the solemn proclamation.
The king looked across them all before rendering his judgment gravely: “Let’s go for a walk.”
Kyouhei couldn’t help but go limp.
“...The hell did that come from?!” he demanded, forgetting who he was talking to and interjecting just as he would with Pamil.
Dolph, though, showed no displeasure at it and answered easily: “Well, we’re together as a family now.”
“That’s not...”
“Don’t you think it’s nice to go out and enjoy the air when you hit the limits of a conversation?”
Well, he wasn’t wrong.
Looking around, he realized that he was the only one who had taken issue with it; the other Bergmanns all just nodded in understanding.
A delusional family indeed; none of them had a chain of reasoning.
“Just do what you want...” Kyouhei said, slightly uneasily.
● ● ●
“Look, Mother, there’s a kitten!” Lorie cried happily, scampering after the cat.
Caleriette followed at a measured pace. Even though she was just walking in a straight line, it was almost like she was dancing.
The day was a cold midwinter’s one, but with the sun high in the sky, the streets were slightly warmer thanks to soaking in the sunlight.
They’d headed to the shopping district after leaving the café. Not out of any goal or inclination to; that just happened to be the direction they’d taken.
They do look just like normal people right now... Kyouhei thought as he watched the ten self-proclaimed androids—including Pamil—wandering around.
The group held a metaphorical banner declaring them foreigners with their uncommon good looks, but ‘rare’ was still in the range of ‘normal’ for people. For someone like Kyouhei, who had traveled the world since he was young, that was even more the case.
“Kitty! Meow! Ahaha!”
Lorie had spotted the kitten sunning itself at the roadside and chased after it. The kitten bolted in surprise, hiding under a four-seater that was parked at the curbside.
“Aww, it ran away,” she lamented unhappily.
She still hadn’t given up, though, and laid down, stretching her hand under the car with an “Ngh...!”
It wasn’t something befitting royalty, but it was nice to see her as a young girl who wanted to fuss over a cat for a bit.
“I can’t reeeaach,” she complained.
“Oh my,” her mother chuckled, sounding like a chiming bell, from next to her. She looked just like any other mother supervising her child.
But...
“Listen, Lorie,” she continued, “royalty must not give up so easily.”
“Yes, Mother.”
“Once you know what you can and cannot do, your path will become clear,” Caleriette said with a smile. “If you cannot reach something, you must make it so you can.”
So saying, she leaned forwards and hooked her slender fingers under the car.
“Wai—” Kyouhei exclaimed, trying to stop her.
Then, in a way that would have gone with a fwip sound effect in manga, she lifted the car as if it was made out of paper.
To clarify, it was an ordinary car. It wasn’t a bike trailer, or just a bike even. It looked to be at least a ton. Yet Caleriette was holding that massive weight in the air, even if its rear wheels were still on the road, with her dainty arm.
“Wh-What are you doing, Caleriette-san?!” Kyouhei protested, wary of onlookers as he tried to get her to stop.
“What am I doing...?” she asked, still holding the car aloft with a single slender arm. She tilted her head, her expression saying: “It was in the way, so I simply removed it, what of it?”
Next to her, Lorie had succeeded in embracing the cat and was enjoying herself.
The cat in question, incidentally, had its fur on end in shock and fear. Regardless of its youth, it knew just how strange what it was seeing was. Lorie paid that no mind, though, and tightened her grip on the writhing cat.
“Look, Mother! It’s so fluffy!”
Kyouhei momentarily feared that the cat was about to be crushed like it was under a press, but it didn’t happen.
Still...