Seeing her sister look a bit worried about hearing bad news, Illustrious answered seriously, 'No matter what you do wrong, Aircraft Carrier, Sister will face it together with you. I won't leave you behind. So don't be polite—rely on your sister as much as you want! Even if the sky falls, your sister will be there to hold it up.'
After hearing the answer she wanted, the Aircraft Carrier's worries vanished. She squeezed her sister's small hand and said with a bit of a tsundere attitude, 'I don't need to rely on Sister. I'll become a reliable person in the future. When that time comes, it'll be Sister relying on me instead.'
'Alright, alright! Sister will wait for the Aircraft Carrier to become a reliable person so I can slack off a bit.' Illustrious covered her mouth and smiled.
'Don't laugh! I'm being very serious.' The Aircraft Carrier's face turned red as she spoke indignantly.
'Yes, yes! Sister won't laugh anymore!' Illustrious pulled back her smile.
'Then you can't pat my head anymore! Otherwise, I'll never grow up!' the Aircraft Carrier said, pushing her luck.
'But it seems to me, Aircraft Carrier, that you're very happy every time I pat you!' Illustrious said nonchalantly.
'Th-That's your imagination! I... I'm not happy at all!' the Aircraft Carrier retorted, her tone lacking conviction.
A bright, white moon hung in the sky. In the dim light of the night forest, the voices of the two sisters, clear as nature itself, brought a touch of liveliness to the quiet woods... In Eiseng Village, a loli was walking toward her home. This loli's name was Nagato; she was only five years old and wore a simple, rustic Western-style dress.
She had long, glossy black hair, and on her head were two fox ears that twitched occasionally. Her golden eyes were very beautiful, and her small, lovely cherry-blossom lips made one want to steal a kiss.
However, the scars on her body marred that beautiful appearance, giving off a somewhat poignant and tragic feeling. But even so, they could not hide the loli's cuteness.
'I've gotten covered in injuries again today. If Mama sees this, she'll definitely worry about me,' Nagato said with a bit of concern.
Seeing the ears, one should know that Nagato was not an ordinary human. She was a Mixed-Blood Beastkin—the offspring of a human and a Beastkin. Nagato's father was a Beastkin, and her mother was human.
Nagato had never seen her father in all her years. Every time she asked her mother where her father was and why he wasn't with them, her mother's face would fill with sadness, and she would refuse to answer.
Because of these ears, the children in the village bullied her all day long, saying things like, 'Filthy Beastkin! Why are you still staying in the village? Hurry up and get back to your Beastkin lands; this is human territory!'
'If Mama asks, I'll just say I accidentally fell down. That way, Mama won't worry.' Nagato thought about it and decided on this response for when her mother asked about the cause of the scars on her body.
Slowly, she finally reached the door. Nagato lingered there, unsure whether to go in. She was afraid her mother would see through her lie, which would make her worry and feel sad.
The mother inside the house was named Fielan. Unlike Nagato, Fielan had dazzlingly straight long blonde hair. Nagato had heard from the villagers that before her mother gave birth to her, she was the village beauty, and the threshold of her door was practically worn down by suitors.
Unfortunately, with the passage of time and the burden of doing all the farm work alone, her mother was no longer as beautiful as she was in her youth. Now, she could only be described as presentable, with some looks left. But in Nagato's heart, her mother would always be the most beautiful.
Seeing a shadow outside, Fielan calculated the time and figured it should be her lovely daughter, so she went out to greet her.
'Nagato! You're home, why aren't you coming in? Instead of saying "I'm back," you're just pacing around the door! How impolite—Mama didn't raise you that way! Wait! What's with those injuries?!'
'I'm sorry, Mama. These injuries are from accidentally falling down.' Nagato's answer regarding her injuries was very flat, as if they didn't belong to her.
'Nagato, don't you know your ears droop when you lie? Was it the village children again? Tell Mama which family's kids did this; let me go talk to their parents and have them give those kids a good lesson.' Fielan said angrily.
It was those ears again. Nagato covered the ears on her head with both hands. She hated them! Not only did they cause her to be bullied, but they also drooped when she lied, making it so her mother saw through her every time.
Nagato pulled on her mother's hand, stopping her. 'Don't go, Mama. Even if you talk to those kids' parents, it won't help. It'll only make their children bully me even more intensely.'
Nagato wasn't wrong. When Fielan was the village beauty, the village men were furious because she hadn't chosen them and had instead chosen a crude Beastkin. They often called her a lewd slut behind her back, saying she hadn't chosen them because the Beastkin's 'parts' were bigger.
The village women, on the other hand, were extremely jealous of Fielan because she had been young, beautiful, and had a great figure, making all the men revolve around her while they were just ordinary-looking.
In fact, Nagato's bullying was orchestrated by these people behind the scenes, telling their children to do it to get revenge on Fielan. So telling Fielan wouldn't help; the parents would only pretend to scold the children on the surface, while secretly encouraging them to bully Nagato even harder.
Being pulled by Nagato, Fielan also snapped out of her rage. It wasn't that she hadn't looked for their parents before, but after doing so, those parents would say one thing to her face and do another behind her back. The next day, Nagato would be bullied even more severely by those children.
'Those people are too wicked. If they have a problem, they should come at me. What kind of person bullies a child?' Fielan hugged Nagato, tears flowing. 'I'm sorry! Nagato, it's all Mama's fault.'
'It's okay, Mama. I'm just a little hurt; it's no big deal. Don't be sad for me,' Nagato said comfortingly.
Hearing Nagato comfort her instead made Fielan feel even worse. Looking at Nagato's scars, she immediately took Nagato's hand, led her into the house, and had her sit obediently on a wooden chair.
'Nagato, be good! Sit properly in the chair. Mama is going to get some medicine to rub on you. If a girl doesn't take care of these scars and they leave marks, it won't be good!'
"Okay, Mama. Nagato will be good."
"Such an obedient girl. You truly are my precious daughter, much better than those naughty children in the village."
After saying that, Fielan rummaged through the house. After a while, she finally found the medicine box, took out the medicine, and applied it to Nagato's wounds.
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