Yukio lay on a sun lounger in his family estate, feeling the warm breeze brush past him. As he carefully experienced it, he found it utterly refreshing.
On the grassy field in front of him, Ibuki was warming up neatly and crisply, preparing to practice the martial arts passed down through the family dojo. She had not slacked off for a single day. Day after day, it had become a deeply rooted habit for her.
Yukio picked up the hot coffee on the small table beside his chair and took a satisfied sip. He enjoyed watching Ibuki's graceful, powerful movements after becoming a wife, while also savoring the mellow taste of the coffee.
Just then, a girl roughly up to Yukio's waist came trotting over. She was adorable, with a clear, crisp little voice. "Daddy~"
That sweet call, the moment it rang out, was practically enough to melt a person's heart.
Yukio swept a glance over that head of blue hair and knew this was his darling daughter, Nana. Her short blue hair had completely inherited the style of her mother, Ibuki.
Her face was like an egg that could break with the slightest touch. Calling it translucent white would not be quite right, because it also held a soft pink glow. Underneath, she wore a white little camisole, with a loose black top draped over it.
The collar of that black top was so wide it could slide right down around Nana's shoulders. Underneath were white athletic shorts that matched the camisole, making it convenient for the little girl to play and move around.
"Did you find the fire?" Yukio asked with interest as he waited for Nana to run up to him. At the same time, he measured her up, wanting to see where the fire was.
"Mm-hm." Nana had run all the way over, as if she had been looking forward to something. Her little face was a little red. Hearing Yukio's question, she directly lifted her small hand, opened her palm, and nervously let Yukio see the tiny matchbox in her hand.
The matchbox was very old-fashioned. Even the pattern printed on it was full of age, a small design of several people dancing. One look was enough to know it was an old item, the kind basically impossible to find in modern society anymore.
"Grandpa gave this to you?" Yukio looked surprised. This was the kind of match his old man usually used when smoking, and he would keep it so preciously that he basically would not give it to younger generations.
Of course, this was also related to the fact that there were not many younger generations at home who smoked.
People who smoked nowadays generally used lighters, and very few older folks still chose matches out of habit. They said lighting a cigarette with a match made the smoke more fragrant, something hard for young people today to understand.
"Mm-hm!" Nana excitedly nodded her little head, her eyes full of anticipation as she looked at her father. "Daddy, promise me~ Like I said before, as long as I can find fire, you'll let me try the taste of smoking."
Ibuki, who had been practicing martial arts in front of them, suddenly stopped. Her face darkened. "Nana! Are you acting up again?! What kind of cigarette is a child trying to smoke?! Do you need a beating?"
Even though they were already married, Ibuki still had a fierce temper. With that sharp glare, most children would immediately be frightened into tears.
The problem was that Nana was Ibuki's daughter. The temper could not be said to be exactly alike, only completely identical. The little girl also planted both hands on her hips and puffed herself up at her mother with a proud little look. "Daddy promised me!"
Shō! Seeing this little thing dare to bring up Yukio to pressure her, Ibuki immediately looked over in displeasure. "You can't spoil her like this!"
"It's fine, it's fine." Yukio waved his hand and gave Ibuki a reassuring look. Ibuki paused for a moment, then raised a battle-cry-like breath, lightly exhaled, and resumed her practice on the spot. Every punch and kick carried real force.
She looked as if she were angry, but actually, after so many years together, Ibuki trusted Yukio completely and believed he could easily solve this trouble. So she would not interfere anymore.
However, that set of movements was very intimidating. Most children would definitely not dare try again after seeing it. But for Nana, she had long since been brought by Ibuki to learn from Chabashira more than once. Having fought alongside her mother before, it was nothing difficult.
So without any psychological burden, she offered up what seemed like a match and looked up eagerly at her father, waiting for Yukio to discover it. This was something she had been pestering Yukio about for a very, very long time, and Yukio had finally agreed to it.
"Not bad. I'll teach you a little today." Yukio smiled, equally amused. He clapped his hands, and the old butler a few steps behind him understood at once. He took out a packet of cigarettes and handed it directly to Nana.
"Thank you, Uncle Fu." Nana was very polite too. What she was looking for on the paper was something she would argue over with her mother, Ibuki. Toward other people, she was still very well-mannered.
"Huh." Butler Fu, after being called so sweetly, would normally have been delighted, but right now he could only respond with a somewhat conflicted, honest reminder. "Miss, smoke slowly."
Nana did not notice Uncle Fu's problem at all. She was happily examining the cigarettes, looking at the beautiful packaging and muttering the name. "Tea cigarettes? Whatever, I'll try first."
"I've always watched Chabashira-mama smoke, and Grandpa smokes too. Today, I finally get to try what it tastes like!"
Yukio smiled as he watched her, while Ibuki kept training without turning her head. Only Uncle Fu looked worriedly at her.
Nana was smart. She opened the package nimbly, fiddled with it for half a day, and finally took out one cigarette. Just by looking at the packaging, she felt it was not simple. Nana could sense that the cigarette paper was extremely delicate, like art.
She was also worried that her father might be deliberately tricking her. But after carefully observing it, she found that there was nothing wrong with the cigarette itself. There was nothing wrong with the tobacco inside either. She had seen Chabashira's and her mother's cigarettes before. Compared to those, this one was a little thinner, while Grandpa's was this rough sort.
The tobacco was normal too. It was exactly the same as Chabashira-mama's and Grandpa's, and Daddy's tobacco even carried wafts of tea fragrance. It seemed even higher-class than what Grandpa smoked.
After she finished checking, Nana stopped waiting. With an adult-like motion, she held the cigarette between her fingers and struck a match. The old match was still not difficult to use, and with a scrape, she lit the cigarette.
She took a deep breath in imitation of adults, drawing the smoke into her mouth. The next second, Nana's face twisted bitterly. "…Cough! Cough cough!"
Bitter! It was practically like eating bitter melon, and also like being stabbed in the throat by the giant intestines from some urban legend. That taste was simply indescribably awful!
"Ugh! Blegh blegh blegh! Cough cough!" It was only one mouthful of tea cigarette smoke, yet Nana was so miserable that her features scrunched together. Her left hand kept holding the cigarette, her right hand gripped the matchstick, and she did not dare throw either away. She could only lower her head and cough desperately.
"How bitter. Such a bitter, awful taste! What is this?!" As she spoke, she even looked completely wronged. "I—I thought—I thought I was eating candy!"
Yukio could not help laughing. "Now you should understand how incredible it is, right? It's exactly like you said before. Blocking is worse than guiding."
In education, one could not blindly forbid things. The more stubborn a child was, the more one refused to let them do something, the more they would secretly want to do it.
So when he saw the two smoking guns at home, she inevitably became curious. This was nothing bad. To put it bluntly, curiosity was bad trouble only when someone truly smoked.
That was why Yukio deliberately had Butler Fu arrange things, buying tea cigarettes. This thing, strictly speaking, was a cigarette without tobacco, tar, or nicotine at all. It was purely made from crushed low-grade tea leaves and tea stems.
When you tore open the rolled cigarette paper, it could even be used to brew tea. But as for this playful texture, one could easily imagine it. Whether you lit it and inhaled it or brewed it and drank it, bitter, hard to swallow, and awful was its only defining feature. To put it plainly, this was a daydream someone had while trying to sweet-talk investors.
And that still was not all. If someone brushed their teeth after inhaling the tea cigarette, the chemical reaction that mingled in the mouth would be disgusting enough to make one doubt life itself. If this was a person's first cigarette, they probably would not dare touch cigarettes for the rest of their life.
Nana was now exactly like that. She had already been made bitter enough to doubt life, furiously biting her little tiger teeth as she glared at the tea cigarette. "What kind of ghostly thing is this?! I'm never touching another one again!!"
Hearing his daughter's grievance, Ibuki swept a satisfied glance over Yukio. As expected, her child's father had a plan.
Butler Fu had already expected the result. He hurried over with Nana's favorite honey water. "Miss, hurry and drink some honey water. The flavor of these cigarettes really isn't good."
After accepting the honey water, Nana could only swear from the bottom of her heart that she would never touch cigarettes again, even if she were beaten to death!
...
For every 2 reviews → +1 extra chapter.
For every 50 Power Stones → +1 extra chapter.
Read 50+ chapters ahead on Patreon! [patreon.com/METARLN]