“I see. And then what happened to the slime?”
“Hum, everyone’s keeping Bouncy!”
“Keeping…?”
“Ah, and it goes in Ririh’s desk when it’s time to go back.”
“Desk…?”
“If it looks like people will step on it, it goes in the desk.”
She’s saying all that like it’s no big deal, while she sits on the sofa and drinks juice. I guess a slime is flexible enough to go inside a desk, but picturing the slime turning flat and being stored away feels like a surreal image.
“…Your teacher is really merciless towards underclassmen.”
Apparently Miss Esmeralda took a bunch of kids that can’t use magic to the forest. And as if that wasn’t enough, she let them bring a monster with them to keep as a class pet.
If any other teacher did that, they’d get complaints from parents for sure, but the fact of the matter is that no one in the capital is going to complain about Miss Esmeralda.
She’s still a leading sorcerer in the capital.
“And what are you going to feed it?”
Blue slime mostly eat grass and berries. They don’t have trouble finding them in the forest, but keeping one in a town seems pretty troublesome.
“Ririh gave it a sweet, and… Ah!”
She starts saying something, before quickly closing her mouth with her hands. Wait, sweet…?
“Ririi, did you…”
“R-Ririh’s sleepy! Good night!”
She says before running to her room. She couldn’t be more suspicious.
“…Did she take sweets to school…?”
I check the box where we keep them, and see a few cookie bundles are missing. I bought them from a baker that’s near here, and I’m pretty sure they’re her favorite.
“Hm… What should I do about this?”
I start thinking while looking at the door to her bedroom.
I’m not going to be mad at her for taking the sweets. I’m sure she just didn’t know it was against the rules, so it’s fine. Judging by how she was acting, I’m assuming the teacher found out about them and got mad at her, and that’s how she learned it’s against the rules.
But… I can’t have her not telling the truth. If she just went, ‘I didn’t know so I took them hahaha’, that would be the end of it. I wouldn’t be mad if she didn’t hide it, but the way she tried to play it off changes everything.
“…So she’s at an age where she’s hiding things from me…”
I get how she feels, because I hid a lot of things from my parents too. I feel like that’s actually normal for a kid’s development. But I also feel like it’s normal for a parent to be mad when they find out about it.
“Riiri.”
I knock on the door and call out to her.
“…”
“Ririi, did you take sweets to school?”
There’s no answer from the other side of the door, but I can tell by her presence that she’s awake.
“…Ririi, if you tell me now, I won’t get mad.”
I say with a soft voice, and I hear a rustling sound coming from her room. And then I hear her little footsteps coming to the door.
“Really…?”
She asks with a worried tone through the door.
“Yes, if you tell me the truth.”
“…”
I can feel her gulping.
“…Hum… Ririh, was going to eat sweets in school…”
“Yes.”
“And… The teacher said that’s against the rules… And got mad…”
“I see. And did you say you were sorry?”
“Yes… Sorry daddy… Ririh… Didn’t know…”
“Good job telling the truth. Good girl.”
I open the door, and see her face is wet with tears. She probably thought it being against school rules meant she did something terrible.
“Sniff… Daddy… Sorry…”
I crouch down in front of her, and she jumps into my chest. Maybe it’s because she’s feeling relieved, but she starts really crying.
“There there. I know it was scary, so good job telling it.”
I pat her head slowly, and think about how I’m raising her.
…Could it be that I’m too tough on her?
Looking at her crying face, I can’t help but feel regret. Was I the one who made her cry? How do other parents battle this feeling of guilt?
I could ask my parents, but I didn’t cry as a kid, so they wouldn’t know.
There’s no right answer in raising a kid. Maybe I’m tough, or, although unlikely, maybe I’m soft. I don’t know.
I guess all I can do is face her directly.
I wait for her to stop, and do my best to speak softly.
“…Ririi, do you want to go get food for the slime?”
“…Food…?”
“Yes. Slime eat berries. If we gather some berries, you can feed it in school tomorrow.”
“…! Let’s go get berries!”
Ririi’s face turns into a bright smile, and for some reason, that makes me feel relieved.
Raising a kid is hard.
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