"Hm? Sensei?" The small girl with silver hair and orange eyes twitched her animal ears. "I didn't expect to run into you in this park."
"I didn't expect to see you here either," I replied with a smile, though I couldn't help glancing at the flustered little Shun beside me. "What a coincidence."
The one who had arrived was Kokona, Shun's biological younger sister, who despite her young age had already become an instructor at Plum Blossom Garden.
Since this place was close to Plum Blossom Garden, running into someone here was perfectly reasonable.
But it just had to happen at this exact moment, when Shun had shrunk into a child and was pretending to be one in front of me.
As sisters, would she really be able to fool her?
Sure enough, Kokona's expression grew serious as she suspiciously looked Shun up and down, as if she had already noticed something.
"Come to think of it, this kid…"
Shun instinctively took half a step back, averting her gaze, her entire body tense as if her heart had leapt into her throat.
For a moment, it felt like time itself had frozen. Yet the bead of sweat rolling down the black-haired girl's temple proved that time continued to pass, indifferent to anyone's will.
After a long pause, Kokona finally spoke.
"…A new student from Plum Blossom Garden? I don't think I've seen you before."
She didn't recognize her at all!
She didn't even question why she looked so much like her sister!
Shun didn't even have time to wipe her cold sweat before hurriedly going along with it. "Y-Yes! I'm Shunling, I just transferred here not long ago!"
"That's strange… you look kind of familiar…" Kokona muttered, then guessed, "Are you one of the children my sister is taking care of?"
I imagined that, as the older sister who hadn't been recognized at all, Shun's feelings right now must be both relieved and complicated.
"My sister really is something," Kokona sighed, shaking her head as if she had already confirmed her guess. "Where did she run off to, leaving the kids behind? I thought she'd be in this park."
"Kokona-chan, are you looking for Shun right now?"
"Yes. I haven't been able to contact her at all since earlier… Also, sensei, please don't add '-chan'! Call me Kokona, or Instructor Kokona!"
Anyone who almost exposed themselves through a phone call would naturally mute or turn off their phone afterward.
"Honestly," Kokona continued complaining, "she suddenly disappeared during work, so now I have to prepare afternoon snacks for the children in her place!"
I feigned surprise. "Something like that happened? That must be tough on you, Kokona-chan. Taking on so much for your sister, you're already a refined young lady."
Judging from Shun's stunned expression beside me, it seemed there might be some… embellishment in Kokona's version of events.
"Hmph, of course! I am an instructor at Plum Blossom Garden, after all!"
Smiling proudly, Kokona seemed to grow more talkative. "But honestly, my sister has been acting strange lately… she's probably worrying about something trivial again."
I glanced subtly at Shun and asked, "What kind of trivial things?"
"The same things I mentioned to you on Momotalk before. Getting older, her skin getting rough… I really don't understand why she worries about such things."
Hearing that, Shun's eyes widened in shock, clearly not expecting her sister to have shared all of that with me.
I felt a little awkward and cleared my throat. "Actually, I think there's no need to worry about those things. Shun is in the prime of her youth, and her skin is as smooth as a child's."
"Really? I think she is getting older, and her skin is getting rough… but even if that's true, there's no need to care so much about it, right?"
In many ways, Kokona was quite something as a younger sister.
Shun, who had just begun to recover her mood, now looked like it was darkening again.
"And besides," Kokona continued freely, unaware that the person she was talking about was right beside her, "she always says she's worried about gaining weight, but she has zero self-control when it comes to sweets. Sometimes she's really childish."
After saying all that, Kokona even smiled smugly. "Honestly, she's probably somewhere right now eating sweet candied fruit and forgetting all about her duties."
And she just happened to be exactly right.
I was about to gently explain just how perfect her sister's figure was, and encourage Kokona to eat properly and make use of her good genetics, to calm someone's rising anger.
But it seemed… it was already too late.
"Kokona is childish too!"
Shun finally snapped, jumping out indignantly.
Kokona looked at the "familiar yet strange child" in confusion. "What are you—"
"You always secretly throw away your carrots, saying they taste bitter and gross!"
"W-What?" Kokona was shocked. "How do you know that?"
Shun puffed out her chest. "Shun-nee told me. She said Instructor Kokona is a picky eater."
Glancing at me, Kokona flushed in embarrassment and muttered, "Ugh… how could she tell others about that…"
Considering she had just been freely exposing her sister's secrets, she wasn't really in a position to complain.
Then Kokona tried to assert authority, using her advantage as an eleven-year-old instructor over a nine-year-old.
"Ahem. Listen, you're still young, so you might not understand. I'm a very refined lady. When you're my age, you'll understand that ladies all have their preferences, and I simply happen to dislike carrots."
"That's not true. A real lady eats even the foods she dislikes."
Shun paused, then delivered another blow.
"And she wouldn't secretly do stretching exercises every morning to grow taller!"
Kokona was stunned. "H-How do you even know that…!? I make sure to do it secretly every morning so no one finds out…!"
For a child, waking up too early every day might actually hinder growth.
"But I think that doesn't even work," Shun added confidently. "Even President Kisaki from Genryumon tried it before, but she gave up because it didn't work."
SAUCE
As I watched, I suddenly realized something was off.
Wait a second. Did she just casually reveal the embarrassing past of the student council president known as the MASTER?
Given Genryumon's style, would I be silenced for knowing this?
No… more likely, that mysterious short president would say something like, "Since you know my secret, you'll have to become one of us," and force me to marry her…
This was bad. Now I absolutely had to find a chance to see what my unseen future wife looked like!
Meanwhile, Shun had finished building up her argument and delivered her final conclusion:
"In other words! Kokona, who is picky and talks bad about her sister, will never grow taller!"
With those firm, resounding words, the white-haired girl froze completely.
A breeze passed by. Kokona finally snapped out of it, clenched her fists, and stomped the ground.
"Ugh… ugh…! I'll remember your face! Just you wait!"
After delivering a completely unthreatening villain line, she ran off in embarrassment, not even bothering to say goodbye to the adult she admired, namely me.
Watching her younger sister flee, the shrunken Shun stuck out her tongue and laughed triumphantly.
"Bleh∼ I'm not scared of someone who can only say 'just you wait'!"
As expected, not only her body but also her mindset had become that of a child.
"Shu… Shunling."
"Ah…" Shun suddenly snapped back to her senses. "Oh no… I think I might have gone a bit too far teasing her…"
"If that's the case, make sure to apologize to Kokona next time you see her, alright?"
"Mhm," she nodded obediently. "I understand, sensei."
"More importantly," I asked, "do you still want to go on the swing?"
Her eyes lit up with joy. "I do!"
So after she sat on the swing and gripped the ropes tightly, I pushed her small back gently, sending her higher and higher, catching her again each time.
Her laughter, bright and childlike like ringing bells, echoed through the quiet park for a long time.
After she had played to her heart's content, she finally remembered the excuse she had used to drag me along.
"Ah, come to think of it, Big Sister Shun probably isn't here either. I guess we should head to the next place?"
"Yeah, sounds good," I nodded. "Let's go."
To be honest, I had plenty of experience accompanying girls with elementary school appearances.
But girls like Hina or Hoshino were just physically underdeveloped. Someone like Shun, whose mind had also regressed due to medication, gave me a strange feeling.
Would I end up getting arrested by Valkyrie officers?
Then again, this was Shanhaijing, not D.U. How likely was it to run into someone from Valkyrie Academy here?
A moment later~
"Hm? Sensei? I didn't expect to run into you here!"
Looking at the Valkyrie student in front of me, smiling brightly as she greeted me, I fell silent.
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