Episode 375: Riru Ryū

A child abandoned by parenting (neglect).

That was once Riru Ryū's label.

Yet it never gave her life any profound meaning.

Not everyone can be born at the ideal moment they're expected. I just happened to be a little unlucky. That's all.

My real father has always been someone who ran away from problems.

He escaped from his grandfather's strict training.

He fled from exams, fled from jobs, and fled from his grandmother’s nagging.

And he fled from his own child, born by mistake—fled from his wife, and from her family as well.

Still, even such a father remained family.

It was Riru, still an infant, who somehow reconnected the strained relationship between father and grandfather, who had nearly cut ties… so the story goes.

Their interests aligned. The grandfather wanted a boy to carry on his art.

Just thinking about that truth fills Shichireiri with pride.

— Blood ties must be cherished.

No one ever taught her this directly.

She’s just always felt, deep down, that this is how it should be. Probably something like a fundamental human instinct.

That’s why she considered it deeply meaningful, if her very existence had prevented a severing of ties.

▼

She first learned she had a younger sister during her second year of middle school.

Due to a slip of the tongue by my paternal grandfather, who served as my adoptive parent, at a time when I was deeply engrossed in anime featuring younger sisters.

If you keep acting like this, I couldn't possibly introduce you to the real person.

And.

That was the starting point.

It's just a bit of a humorous anecdote now.

▼

Osaka. Abeno. One of the quiet convenience stores nestled in a quiet corner of the shopping district.

As the owner of a shop that could hardly be called profitable, Riru's true family existed.

The winter break of seventh grade.

Riru had learned that her father, whom she had once asked about, was now married to another woman.

Her stepmother seemed to be a kind person, and it appeared she was helping her awkward father live a happy life.

The desire to meet her younger sister had, in truth, been nothing more than a typical curiosity of adolescence.

To Riru, the "younger sister" was nothing more than a character trait of a character from an anime.

How will I feel when I actually meet her in person?

I believed that this act of finding out must surely hold significant meaning within myself.

"Hey. Hello. I'm your older brother."

"Oh? So you're Niyayan?"

"Yeah."

"You don't look as tough as I expected. You really are related to Dad by blood."

"Yeah... I brought a copy of the household registration, just in case."

"We don't need that, we don't need it. We're practically identical anyway."

Those were the first words exchanged between the siblings, separated for so long.

Riru found her laughter more charming than any girl in his class.

Yet, the feeling he had toward her was fundamentally different from how he felt toward other girls—more like gazing at a smaller version of himself, just one step younger.

Still, the meeting that followed did not go smoothly.

It was because his father made no effort to hide his annoyance toward him.

It wasn't surprising. To him, the narrator was simply the "past" he had discarded in order to secure his current happy life.

As someone naturally clumsy at hiding his emotions, his father bluntly told Riru:

"I'll pay for the hotel. I'm sorry, but you can't stay here."

This isn't your place.

Then, his father shut himself away in his room, fleeing as if escaping.

To be honest, the blow to Satome was profound.

Not just the fact that he was being cast out like a stranger's child—more than that, the realization that his father and grandfather's relationship had now been irreparably severed.

Even though the house was small and short on rooms, being sent out into the cold night air by his grandfather's command meant exactly that.

—Then, just what was the purpose of my birth?

Feeling as though a part of my life had been stripped away, my younger sister suddenly asked,

"Hey."

"Hmm?"

"Is it true that Niyann is training at Grandfather's house?"

"Yeah. That's right."

"Is he strong in fights?"

"I haven't tested it, but probably stronger than someone who's done nothing at all."

"Then, I have a request."

"Huh?"

"Please hit Dad."

My mother, who wasn't related by blood, seemed to think it was a joke. She chuckled slightly.

But to Riru, it didn't sound like a joke at all.

"Why? Did Dad do something terrible...?"

"No. Dad's a good father to us."

"Then why..."

"Because if I don't, it just... won't feel balanced, you know?"

At that moment, her stepmother's smile vanished. Riru finally understood her younger sister's meaning.

A child who was abandoned should strike the parent who abandoned them.

My younger sister is saying this. Seriously.

"If we keep going like this, everyone will just live carrying around vague unease. I think that's definitely not a happy way to live.

But if we give the order, and Niiyan hits Dad, then all the blame will fall on us, won't it?

Then Niiyan's frustration will surely clear up, and Dad will receive punishment as Dad should. It'll even be good for Dad."

"Good for Dad...?"

"Yeah."

My younger sister smiles gently.

"Penalty can also be a kind of salvation for someone who's done something wrong. 'Ah, now I'm forgiven.'"

"Besides, we're usually good kids, so we don't mind if we act a little mischievous once in a while."

At the time, fourth grade. Though awkward, it was Riru's own way of speaking.

"Hmm. I see."

Riru gently handed the guest-sized shortcake she had been given to her younger sister.

"Thanks for thinking of me. Eat this."

"Uh-huh. I'll eat it."

"Then I'm off to give Dad a good scolding."

"Uh-huh. Be careful out there."

The expression on my stepmother’s face at that moment was something to behold—she laughed so hard she nearly sprayed tea out of her mouth, just like a cartoon character.

After Rinrō wiped her stepmother’s clothes with a handkerchief, she walked to her father’s room with the gait of someone heading to the restroom, then punched him about sixty-eight times.

What surprised me was that my father was no slouch either.

Even though he had left the scene midway, he too had undergone rigorous training from his own grandfather.

They ended up laughing as if they had forgotten the time they'd been apart, as though each had been struck just as hard as the other had struck their father.

It wasn't until much later that they realized the only way two youths who had devoted their青春 to martial arts could truly understand one another.

"Come again anytime."

In his clumsy, foolish way, the father uttered words he likely would never have said if their parting had been ordinary.

My younger sister accepted it as if it were perfectly natural.

She understood.

If they didn't do this, the family would surely drift apart again.

"Blood ties—must be cherished."

Like Riru, my younger sister also held the same belief.

Neither of them had been taught it by anyone.

From that day forward, Shichirei Riru made a firm decision.

If there is something that will tear apart the family bond my younger sister has nurtured,

then that is precisely when I must use the martial arts I have learned.

— In battle against a monster, I surely cannot match the "Nameless" person.

Yet the techniques taught to me by my grandfather are unbeatable in human combat.