I BECAME MOMMA YUFUFU’S DAUGHTER
“Hmm~ I see, I see. So the test run at school didn’t go so well~”
“It just taught me all over again how incredible both Falfa and Shalsha are. As a parent, I’m extremely proud of them, though.”
I reported on how things were going as I lounged on the couch and let out a yawn. I had to say, I was really relaxed.
The couch I was on belonged to the droplet spirit Momma Yufufu.
That’s right—I was in the middle of a relaxing visit to Momma Yufufu’s house.
As the maternal figure in my life, she was the only person I could talk to about child-rearing. That being said, it felt less like talking to a fellow mom and more like talking to my own parent.
There was only one place I could let loose and laze around as someone else’s daughter, and that was Momma Yufufu’s house.
“And you have another girl now, Sandra, was it? Your hands are quite full~”
“You say that, but she’s a mandragora, so she can feed herself. She gets all her nutrients from the ground. Plus, my other girls help her with studying, so I don’t really have to be so hands-on with her.”
“But won’t there be more fights with more people now?”
“Hmm, well, I guess Sandra only really sticks with me and my daughters… And she’s probably older than I am… She never really fights with the other family members, but there are times I wish things would go more smoothly…”
Still, time could solve those issues, and I was sure that Sandra would be a pea in our pod before long. After all, she was already a plant.
Either way, Momma Yufufu’s house really calmed me down. I was amazed at how much it felt like my parents’ house.
“How is that waterfall doing?” I asked. “Are any tourists coming?”
Near Momma Yufufu’s house, there was a run-down town called Bugabee. I had suggested that they use the waterfall in the area as a draw for their tourism.
“You can’t get there without hiring adventurers, so civilian tourists aren’t coming in droves from what I hear, but highly skilled adventurers do come from time to time and say it is a superb view. I suppose word of it is spreading slowly.”
“So I guess things aren’t going so badly, huh?”
“What do you want for lunch, Azusa? Is mushroom spaghetti okay?”
Momma Yufufu made lunch for me like it was the most natural thing in the world. This place is the best!
“Sure, I’ll take you up on that.”
“Why don’t you take a nap on the couch in the meantime? I’ll wake you up when it’s ready.”
“Thanks. I’ll close my eyes for a bit, then.”
As I was starting to doze off, Momma Yufufu covered me with a light, terry-cloth blanket. “Here, Azusa, be sure to keep warm.”
Man, this is the life!
I recently started coming out to Momma Yufufu’s house and loafing around as her daughter. In my mind, I was calling these trips my homecomings.
Yes—the one thing I was lacking in my three hundred years living in this other world was a place to go home to. My original home hadn’t burned down or anything—I’d been reincarnated in another world, so I’d spent my whole life here in the house in the highlands.
Now, with another place to go home to, I could finally say that my slow and relaxing life had reached peak quality!
I could hear Momma Yufufu cooking in the kitchen. Siiigh~ So calming.
“Oh, yes. I have this watermelon, so maybe we’ll have it for dessert.”
Watermelon for dessert! It really is like home!
“Perhaps I should add extra vegetables and mushrooms since they’re healthy.”
She’s worrying about my health! Just like home!
I drifted right off to sleep until the food was done. It was pure bliss, and that wasn’t an exaggeration.
“All right, Azusa. Food’s ready,” said Momma Yufufu, waking me up to some steaming mushroom spaghetti on the table. “I don’t think it’ll be as good as a restaurant’s.”
“It’s fine; that’s fine! Homemade food doesn’t need to taste like restaurant food! I’d never compare them anyway!”
In fact, if the food I ate at home tasted like something from a restaurant, that would be the problem. It’s like mixing the wrong categories together. You don’t want to find a full-grown lion in a cat café; I’d be terrified.
“It’s very humid around here, so all sorts of mushrooms grow nearby. That’s what I used to cook today.”
“Huh, you’re right—I see red ones, black ones, all different kinds.”
She sprinkled some powdered cheese on top.
Wow, it tasted exactly like it would at home! This was what I’d been looking for! She hadn’t added any white wine to spice things up, and…it wasn’t like there were layers upon layers of flavors, either. But it was good and tasty. It was as if the main spice was a mother’s love.
“Gosh, Momma Yufufu, you’re such a mom~”
“I’m so happy you’re calling me a mom, too, Azusa~ Now, eat as much as you like. And please feel free to have seconds.”
I really thought I was going to break into a huge smile. In fact, I think I may have a little bit.
I’m just gonna say it: People need moms in their lives.
When I was living in Japan, I knew many wives couldn’t stand having a momma’s boy for a husband, among other things. Like, I get it, but hold on a sec. No matter how old you get, your mom’s still your mom. She doesn’t suddenly turn into your dad or your big sister when you turn twenty. But what if the wives got overly attached to their mothers-in-law, too? Couldn’t that just solve everything? That’d make everyone happy, right?!
I know I already live in a different world, and I’ve been alive for over three hundred years at this point, but I just wanted to suggest that.
As for lunch, I had lots of extra helpings. The spaghetti was great and so was the vegetable soup. The flavors warmed me down to my heart.
Man, it was so good, so good. People ate three times more than usual when they went to their parents’ house, didn’t they? People gained a little weight, didn’t they? Well, I sure did.
“By the way, Momma, what’s the name of this red mushroom?” I had a feeling I’d eaten it somewhere before.
“That’s the gnomesform mushroom. The firm and crunchy texture is rather fun, no?”
“Ahhh, gnomesform~ I ate it once and, boy, was that a headache~”
…Wait, what?
Why did I associate this mushroom with trouble…?
Isn’t eating this supposed to make you small like a gnome…? I definitely remember Halkara forcing me to eat it once…
“Oh, that’s right! Will you be okay eating gnomesform mushrooms, Azusa? They’re not a problem for spirits, but you’re not a spirit. Humans turn into children for a little while, don’t they?”
Momma Yufufu, you need to check these things beforehand.
The poison must have finally taken effect, because I rapidly started to shrink—
—And I stopped at the size of a toddler.
I was small enough for Falfa or Shalsha to lift me up a bit. I was the same size as Sandra…
“Oh my~ You’re such a cute little thing now~ Oh, just your size; you were always adorable, Azusa.”
I’ve looked like a seventeen-year-old for three hundred years, so I took pride in my cuteness—but that wasn’t the problem.
Momma Yufufu hoisted me up.
I had a feeling that my family did this to me the last time I turned small.
Apparently, once you turned back into a toddler, everyone instinctually wanted to pick you up. Well, maybe I was overgeneralizing; turning into a toddler wasn’t exactly a common phenomenon.
“Oh, yes, you’re so light, so light! How cute, what a cutie!”
Momma Yufufu was calling me cute over and over again. I wasn’t really happy to hear it so much right after changing form into something else.
“Sigh… I can’t believe I ended up shrinking here… I mean, I know I can just take a mandragora pill and be back to normal, so it’s not that serious…”
These symptoms could be relieved by taking mandragora pills, the medicine sold by Eno, the Witch of the Grotto.
“Aww~ You’re going back to normal so soon?”
Momma Yufufu sounded disappointed, but, yeah, obviously. Life was hard like this. I wouldn’t be able to reach things on high shelves, and I’d get more tired shopping than I would if I were an adult.
“Oh, I have a favor to ask,” Momma Yufufu said, putting me back on the ground.
“Do you think you could treat me as your real momma for just a bit?”
“I don’t get what you’re saying.”
What was I supposed to do? Be born again as a spirit? Not even I could do that.
“Live with me for a few days as my daughter. You’re already little and you’re already here—why don’t we go into town? Just the two of us.”
“Huh…? I’ve been treating you as my mom the whole time, though, I think?”
Momma Yufufu waved her hand in denial, indicating that I was way off.
“That’s like the relationship between a mother and her daughter who’s come home to visit, no? Right now, we’re like a mother and her young daughter. This is entirely different. It’s like drain water and shaved ice.”
Did she just call my real self drain water…?
“The general concept of parents and children doesn’t exist among the spirits. That was why I was so excited to act as your mother, but I did wish I could be a mommy to a much younger girl~ Heh-heh-heh~”
And for no reason at all, she started patting my head. Apparently, I was like a little treasure.
I had pretty complicated feelings about the whole thing, but she had been making food for me and let me laze around her house. We’d been doing everything my way up until now, so of course she would want to do something her way for once.
And since she didn’t have any children of her own, what she said struck a chord with me.
I was living with Falfa and Shalsha, the cutest girls in the world (this is fact, and no, I will not be accepting any criticism), but they were supernatural beings only born after I’d killed thousands of slimes. My life with them was full of delight, so I wanted to pay it forward to someone who longed for a life with a daughter.
And since I was the one who regarded Yufufu as my mom, she would be my mom no matter what size I was. I didn’t have any other mom in this world.
Right at that moment, another kid without a mom came to mind.
That was Sandra.
Well, she was a plant, so she probably technically had her plant parents, but it had been such a long time, long enough for her to gain a personality. She probably didn’t know who they were.
It was an extremely rare case for mandragoras to become like Sandra, so I suspect they were either already wilted or in a poultice somewhere. Sandra, at least, didn’t know who her mother was.
“Fine, Momma Yufufu. I’ll stay this way to be your daughter for a bit.”
“Ohhh, yay! I’m so happy!!!”
She hugged me so tight, her boobs started suffocating me.
“But I do have one condition…”
“Oh, hmm? What is it?”
Wow, it sure is a tight squeeze between these things…
“Do you think you could treat Sandra the mandragora as your daughter, too? She only really likes me and Falfa and Shalsha, so she might be worried if I’m not around.”
“Yes, of course! And right now, I’m getting two daughters for the price of one, so this is wonderful!”
That sounded like something I’d hear in an infomercial from my past life…
“Then I’m going to go back to the house in the highlands for a bit to explain.”
“Of course. Yes, please.”
At last, I was freed from her massive bosom.
How did she get them so big? Were they ill-gotten gains?
But I couldn’t go back right away.
Whenever the droplet spirit hugged me, I ended up soaked.
“Oh my, they’d think you had an accident if you went back like that~”
As if you had nothing to do with it— You know this is your fault, right?
“I’ll just go dry myself off with Flame magic…”
Once I’d dried my clothes, I used Momma Yufufu’s transport magic to go back to the house in the highlands so I could talk to Sandra.
“Hmm… Acting as a daughter, hmm…? Fine. I’ll do it. For you.”
She was being rather condescending about it, but I didn’t mind. This was par for the course with her.
“Great, then let’s go,” I said.
Of course, since I came to the house in the form of a little girl, the rest of the family fawned over me.
“I’ll make cookies for my little mistress!”
“I will make cookies, too!”
“And I’ll have to buy clothes for my little mistress!”
“I—I…will find good clothes, too!”
Wait, you don’t have to compete over this, dragons! And if you end up buying clothes for me, then I’ll have to turn small every once in a while in the future, so please stop.
“What would happen if she ate more gnomesform in this state? Would she become a baby?”
Halkara’s head was filled with terrifying thoughts. Please, that’s not funny…
Starting that evening, both (little) me and Sandra began our tenure as Momma Yufufu’s daughters.
Sandra and I sat on the dining chairs.
“Oh, hey, you’re not in the ground or anything right now, Sandra.”
She was usually already underground by this point in the day.
“…It’s really damp here… If I lived as a plant, I’d wither because it’s so wet…,” Sandra said, looking tired. I had no idea it would be so hard for her! “That’s why I’m staying inside for these few days. I can store nutrients in my body, so I’m okay not getting in the earth for a month or two.”
Right. Every part of her that looked human was actually her roots. Maybe that was why animate mandragoras were so hardy.
“Then I’ll teach you writing and arithmetic instead of Falfa and Shalsha today, okay?”
“Y-you will…? Thanks, then…” Sandra wasn’t really the emotive type, but I was starting to tell when she was happy or not.
“Heh-heh, I baked a cupcake for each of you before dinner~ How about it~?” Momma Yufufu came in wearing an apron and carrying cakes. She seemed pretty happy, too.
“Oh, Sandra can’t eat. We appreciate it, though…”
“Yeah. I’m really just fine with water and earth that’s not too damp,” Sandra added bluntly, but she did seem to feel bad about it. Her expression clouded slightly.
“Oh my, my, I see. I am sorry. Everyone has their own ways of life, don’t they~?”
Momma Yufufu’s eyebrows fell in disappointment, but she then scooped Sandra up into a hug.
“I’m sorry, Sandra. Momma didn’t know. Please forgive me~”
“Hey! You’re hurting me! Stop this… B-but…I guess just a bit is fine…” Sandra resisted a little at first, but her expression softened. “Momma, huh…? I’m a plant, so I don’t really understand, but I find this soothing for some reason. Might not be so bad…”
Sandra was starting to feel Momma Yufufu’s maternal vibes!
“I feel a sense of security that I didn’t have with Azusa… Is this a mother’s bosom…? Is this what motherliness is?”
“Geez, sorry for not having big boobs!”
It felt an awful lot like I was losing here! Not that I ever thought I could win, but this was just frustrating! Really frustrating!
“You can call me Momma, Sandra. Actually, please do.”
“You bring me peace of mind, Momma. And I can hydrate fairly well from you, so I think this is perfect.”
She could hydrate from a droplet spirit as a plant?! This was almost like a proper relationship between parent and child!
And since I could never replicate that, I couldn’t win anymore!
“Well, I have to cook dinner now, so go play with your big sister, okay?”
“Okay, sure.”
“Azusa, take care of Sandra, okay?”
I guess Momma Yufufu had mentally designated Sandra as the little sister and me as the big sister.
“Okaaay, I will. Sandra, wanna play house?”
“House, hmm… If that’s what you want, then sure.” Of course, Sandra would never give a straightforward “Yeah!” to something like this.
House, eh? I’d never actually played house with Falfa and Shalsha because they acted so grown-up. When they played, the scenario tended to get pretty realistic, or maybe specialized was the better way of putting it, so it wasn’t very childlike. That was probably just right, though.
But Sandra’s way of playing house was its own kind of odd.
“Okay, then I’ll be the dad, and I’m a shoemaker in town.”
“Then I’ll be a great big cedar.”
“…Wait, what kind of setting are you making with that? What kind of story are you thinking of?”
The two had nothing in common.
“Isn’t it the big sister’s job to think of a good story?”
Whaaat? Is it really my job…? “Phew! I’m done making shoes today. Maybe I’ll go to the cedar just outside of town~”
“…”
“Wow! Yep, that sure is a big tree! Same as always~”
“…”
“Erm, you should say something now…”
Our game of house would be a very lonely affair if she stayed silent the entire time.
“Why would a cedar tree speak? Cedars are silent and simply stand there. Speaking is out of character.”
Please don’t start bringing up authenticity in this situation…
“Well, maybe you could pretend this one speaks…? It feels really bizarre for me to just play the part of a cobbler by myself…”
“Fine. I’ll make an exception and pretend I speak.”
This little sister of mine sure is full of herself… As a mother, I didn’t mind, but as a big sister, it really got under my skin.
“Ho there, Cedar,” I said. “How are you today?”
“A bird has built a nest in my upper branches. I am somewhat watered.”
“Hey, Cedar, Cedar!”
“I will be sending out plenty of pollen next year as well. Prepare yourselves, humans.”
“…Wait, wait. Something’s still off. We can make this better,” I interrupted. “The cedar’s talking, but it’s not addressing the cobbler at all. It’s just talking by itself, isn’t it?”
“If a cedar has a soul, then why would it want to speak to a human? This is rooted in my own experience.” Sandra probably didn’t want to play house.
“…Then you be a baker, Sandra.”
“I want to be a big cedar.”
“How much do you like big cedars?!” Why is she so obsessed with them?!
“Cedars are tall enough for me to wonder if they can really see out across the world. Isn’t that something to look up to?”
For her, everything was plant-based…
“Let’s stop playing house so I can help you study, okay?”
“Sure. That’s fine with me.”
Entertaining a little sister sure was a difficult task…
Once we started studying, I immediately learned that Sandra knew many more words than she used to.
“I can write easy sentences. The cedar is tall. Water in midsummer helps me. Ferns grow in humid places, and they are gross. I fight with mushrooms over nutrients.”
“Hey, you’re writing, and you’re doing a great job of it. You’re only writing about plants, though.”
“It’s practical, don’t you think? Isn’t it amazing?”
I wasn’t sure how practical it was, but it was good that she could read and write.
Finally, it was time for dinner.
“Here you go, Azusa. The bread is all finished.” Momma Yufufu brought over plates.
“Yay! I was getting hungry,” I said as the delightful scent of wheat tickled my nose. I was a little more excited for my meals now than I was when I was an adult.
I asked if there were poisonous mushrooms in the dinner soup just in case, but there weren’t any mushrooms at all, so it was okay.
“It seems like you’ve learned how to write a lot, Sandra~ I think it might be because your big sister’s helping you~”
Momma Yufufu was enthusiastically playing the role of a mom.
“Yeah. I taught her really well.”
“It’s because I’m good at it.”
Well, I figured Sandra would say something like that. In a way, the fact that she was always so childish meant it was in her nature instead of an act, so maybe it was perfect for Momma Yufufu.
“But, Sandra, your big sister also helped you, so you should say thank you.” Momma Yufufu was strict where it mattered.
Sandra glanced over at me from the seat next to mine. Then, with an expression somewhere between sulky and embarrassed, she said, “Thanks…Sis…”
Hey, this isn’t so bad. I’ll always remember what it felt like to have a kid call me sis.
“Azusa, Sandra, why don’t we go into town tomorrow for shopping? If there’s anything you want, I’ll get it for you.”
“Huh, so spirits go shopping in town, too.”
I still wasn’t entirely sure what a day in the life of a droplet spirit was like. There were lots of daily necessities around the house, and she generally cooked food, so I could see that her life was more or less like a human’s.
“It depends on the spirit, but my lifestyle isn’t so different from the way you humans live. Staying put for centuries on end would not be fun at all for me as a spirit.”
That would be boring… I wanted every day to be unique.
“I save money for times like these, so I’ll buy you plenty of cute clothes~”
It was a mystery how she was getting that money, but I was thankful that I could now get clothes for Sandra. Falfa’s and Shalsha’s clothes were too big for her.
“Let’s all take a bath together when we’re done eating, okay?”
“My roots will rot if I go into the bath, so you just go, Sis.”
My little sister was awfully delicate.
“How long has it been since I took a bath with my mom…?” I mused as Momma Yufufu scrubbed my back.
At some point in their lives, kids start taking baths on their own. I know my last bath with a parent was in elementary school, but what year? I couldn’t remember, of course.
“This is my first time taking a bath with my daughter.”
Momma Yufufu seemed extremely pleased, and I was happy that she was.
When we were done washing, we soaked in the tub together.
“You have big boobs, Momma.” It was an opinion I held even when I wasn’t a child, but I had a child’s point of view right now.
“Yours will grow bigger when you grow up, too, Azusa.”
“No, they definitely won’t get that big! That’s the one thing I can say for sure!”
No matter how much I grew, there were still limits. Everyone had their own barriers. Most people found theirs long before Momma Yufufu had found hers.
“Sigh~ I wonder what you’ll be like when you grow up, Azusa. You know a lot about plants, so I’m sure you’ll be a witch.”
“Yeah, I wanna be a witch~ And I want my life to be fun and relaxing~”
Momma Yufufu was getting into her role, so I played along.
“I wonder what Sandra will be when she grows up,” Momma Yufufu commented.
“Uh… Y’know, so do I…” Sandra might look like a little kid forever… Or maybe she’d grow into an adult after a few more centuries…
“I want to say you can’t get out until you count to one hundred, but you’ve been in for quite a long time already, Azusa.”
“I love baths, you know~”
Going to the big public baths was one of my very few pastimes when I was a corporate slave.
“We’ll be getting out soon. I don’t want you to get dehydrated.”
Momma and I left the bath together, and she dried my hair with a towel. I wondered if I was this pampered when I was a kid.
Taking care of what you needed to take care of as an adult was also fun in its own right, but this lifestyle had its advantages.
When we got out of the bath, Sandra was waiting with a book.
“Read to me, Momma.”
“Yes, of course.”
Sandra was naturally attaching herself to Momma Yufufu, and Momma Yufufu was incredibly happy about it.
Sometimes, when you let someone cut loose, it benefits you, too.
All three of us ended up sleeping in the same bed that day.
Momma was reading the rest of the book for Sandra. “But then something very terrible happened. She knew she’d left the onion there, but she couldn’t find it! —Oh, Sandra, are you asleep?”
Sandra was snoring softly. I guess she could fall asleep in a bed this way. Maybe it would be nice for her to get some close contact from time to time instead of sleeping in the dirt.
“Are you awake, Azusa?”
“Yeah, I’m still up, Momma.”
“Children are lovely, aren’t they?” I could tell she really, truly meant it as her arms gently embraced me.
“And I think moms are great, too,” I replied.
It was a strange day, but it was a fulfilling one.
As I reflected, my head got all heavy, and I drifted off into sleep.
The next day, we went with Momma Yufufu to a relatively thriving town.
“Hee-hee-hee, this is like a dream,” she said.
Sandra and I each held one of Momma’s hands. I’d done this with Falfa and Shalsha before, so I was familiar with that feeling.
Today I’d make sure that Momma Yufufu got her fill. It felt like Sandra was getting used to her role as Momma Yufufu’s daughter, too.
“I’ll buy some nice clothes for you both, okay? I’ve been waiting for this day, so I’ve already picked some out.” Her eyes were sharp…
All righty! Today I’m going to be her dress-up doll.
Momma Yufufu marched through town.
“You’re really comfortable walking around town, Momma,” I commented.
“I don’t think anyone notices that I’m a spirit. We make sure not to all gather in one specific town.”
That meant that so long as she acted normal, she looked human. There were all sorts of different species in this world.
“Huh. It sure is lively around here. So long as there aren’t any witches, I’m fine…”
Sandra was apparently worried about witches. Maybe being the subject of such a large man(dragora)hunt traumatized her.
“It’s all right. I’d trade my life to keep you safe, Sandra. So no worries!” Momma reassured her, showering her with the same love she’d show her own daughter.
“R-right… Thanks, Momma…”
Sandra had fully recognized Momma Yufufu as a mom. Once she experienced her powerful magnanimity, she couldn’t pretend to give the cold shoulder anymore.
I chuckled, and Sandra glared at me. “Wh-what’s so funny, Azusa…?”
“Oh, nothing. I was just thinking about how red your face was.”
“What? When we played house, you would only ever play human roles…”
Hey, things would get weird if I pretended to be an oak or a beech tree…
Anyway, back in Flatta, I would always draw attention as a witch, but this time it was Momma Yufufu turning heads.
Especially from all the male shop owners.
“That lady’s breasts are way too big—no, she’s way too beautiful…”
“Those boobs are outrageous.”
“Wish my ma was a busty looker like her…”
“Boobs… I mean—yep, working, working…”
Was that all men could see?
“Look at her boobs.”
“I wonder if she used magic or something.”
“Aww, she’s bigger than me!”
Whoops, sorry, the women were looking at the same thing. The opinions were universal.
When Momma Yufufu walked around town as a mom, she was beautiful enough to make anyone do a double take. Everyone in the house in the highlands was cute, but no more than cute. Laika, Halkara, and—if I may be so bold—myself were all more the pampered type, like you’d see with idols.
But Momma Yufufu was much more alluring.
In a word, she was hot.
And with me and Sandra on either side of her, she shone even brighter.
“No way a wife like that is allowed…”
“What a shameless family…”
With us at her side, people started to see her as a married woman, too. I understood how they felt. She had those kind, soft eyes.
Wait a second… But when I walked around with Falfa and Shalsha, I never heard anyone assuming I was married… What does she have that I don’t…?
“Azusa, what’s wrong?” Momma Yufufu asked. “You look distressed.”
“I was thinking about mature forms of attractiveness.”
“Oh, you don’t need that, because you’re cute all year round!”
So I guess I really didn’t have any adult appeal… When I got home, I’d have to examine the idea further.
And so as Momma Yufufu walked around, all eyes were on her.
Finally, we arrived at our destination—the clothing store.
In this world, it was normal to have your clothes tailored, but this shop had plenty of ready-made apparel on sale for children. This was a pretty big town, so a shop like this could thrive here.
Momma Yufufu said to the lady employee, “Find clothes that will suit these girls well. Price doesn’t matter.” She was serious about this…
The employee’s eyes shone. “Of course, ma’am. I will help you make these two girls cuter than ever before! You have raised such fine specimens, I say!”
There was something weird about the way she said that.
“Aren’t they? Aren’t they just bursting with cuteness?”
“Yes. They’re so cute, I could just gobble them up.”
Sandra froze. “D-don’t eat me…”
“Sandra, this lady isn’t a witch, so she won’t eat you. It’s a metaphor,” I reassured her. After all, I was the big sister.
“Oh, okay…”
“Well then, come with me, young ladies. You will be more beautiful than ever!” The employee grabbed our arms. I knew we were going to be a pair of dress-up dolls, but this was more intense than I envisioned…
“Azusa, what’s going to happen to me…?”
Sandra was still scared!
“It’s okay. No one’s going to hurt us. I—I think…”
After that, Sandra and I had to put on a whole array of dresses. Every time we tried one on, we showed it off to Momma Yufufu.
She was constantly praising us; here’s a few examples:
“Ooooh! How marvelous! Super spirit-level cuteness! I’ll take these.”
“Ohhh, I almost want to apologize for how adorable my daughters are! I’ll take these.”
“A straight-set victory over the goddess of beauty. I’ll take these.”
“You are literally perfect in my eyes. I’ll take these.”
We couldn’t literally be in your eyes; that’s horrific. Just no.
She was the perfect doting parent… And she was buying clothes left and right…even though every outfit cost a pretty penny… Now I knew what was keeping their economy going strong…
I was starting to get a little frightened, but Sandra, on the other hand, had totally loosened up. She seemed delighted.
“Azusa, don’t I look like a princess…? Could I make all the humans kneel before me…?”
Sandra grew up in a world without an economy, and she was still falling prey to the allure of money?!
In the end, we spent almost eight hundred thousand gold. This was the high life… I never spent this much money on clothes for my own daughters…
Sandra and I left the shop wearing our frilly new outfits, while the clerk folded the rest of the dresses for Momma Yufufu to carry.
“Gosh, both of you just look like princesses from every angle!”
“I’ve never worn anything like this before…”
“Right, hold on just a moment now. I have to put these away back at the house before they get wrinkly!”
Momma Yufufu stepped into an empty corner, used her Teleportation, and vanished. That power sure was useful.
“Spending money is so much fun. I never knew…”
“Come back, Sandra! You’re still too young for that!”
I was planning on keeping Sandra safe until Momma Yufufu came back. After all, that was my responsibility as an older sister.
But for some reason, my body was lifted into the air.
I briefly thought it was Momma, but I could tell right away that this person’s strength was more violent. The next moment, I was thrown into something—the back of a carriage. Sandra was tossed in after me, but I caught her. I might have been small, but I was still an adult on the inside. And max level, at that.
Sandra was panicking. “Hey! Wh-what’s happening?!”
“Sandra, you should stay quiet for now. Let’s check to see what’s going on.”
A man jumped into the carriage just as the horse set off. He must have an accomplice, a driver.
“Heh-heh-heh, you little ladies must be the daughters of nobility or rich merchants, judging by your clothes. Kidnapping you will bring us a hefty ransom,” the man said with a leering smile.
Oh, okay. I get it. “Hey, mister, are you and your friend kidnappers?” I deliberately tried to sound mild-mannered just to make sure I didn’t shock him too much.
“Sure are. Little ladies like you are perfect game for us.”
“Huh. Is it just you and your friend? Or are you members of a big group? Or are you just one branch of a larger organization?”
“You sure are getting specific with your questions… Are kids getting more realistic when they play pretend nowadays? There’s eight of us. Kidnapping for ransom is just one of the things we do.”
“Do you have a name? Or a code name that you only use with your friends?”
“You sure ask a lot of questions… Is playing thief what the kids are into right now? Either way, I wouldn’t tell you.”
In my mind, I had already flipped the switch to come up with a plan to arrest all of them.
Sorry, but you’ve just kidnapped a terribly terrible witch. Ten times more terrible than a regular demon.
The problem was that I didn’t have any way to tell Momma Yufufu, but I wouldn’t know where their base was if I jumped out of the carriage now, and I couldn’t abandon Sandra, either.
From the way things were going, there was probably another one of their men in town with an eye out for a well-to-do lady searching for her children. Momma Yufufu would then find out what happened. If not, they couldn’t ask for their ransom.
“So what’s your parents’ names, ladies?”
“Yufufu.”
“Yufufu? I’ve never heard of that… Which merchant is that…?”
Well, he probably didn’t think it would be a spirit.
I grasped Sandra’s hand tightly. Right now, I had to act like a big sister. “Don’t worry. Everything will turn out fine. Just trust me.”
“Right…okay…”
Well then, I guess it’s time to warn them not to bully my little sister. “Hey, mister, if you make my little sister cry, I will make you wish you hadn’t. Protecting the weak is our house rule. Just remember that.” I glared at the man with a strong look.
“Where’d that come from? You from some kind of knight family…? If you’re from a military family, we might have a little problem…”
“It might be even worse. I hear we have ties to the demons, after all.” Well, I’m the one with ties to the demons, actually.
“Wh…? Demons…? Pshaw, no way…I never heard of a noble or merchant like that…”
“You never heard of it because no one would ever advertise the fact. I’ve been invited to Vanzeld, the demon castle, before.”
“Wh-wh-wh—?”
The man was bewildered. He probably couldn’t tell if I was lying or not.
This time, I started acting more like an adult. “Mister, there are people in this world that you should never involve yourself with, and today, you got unlucky. Maybe your crimes have finally caught up with you.”
“What is up with this kid…? She’s talking like she’s all grown up…” The color was slowly draining from the man’s face. He was starting to sense that something was off. “Say anything stupid, and I’ll punch you! Just keep your nonsense to yourself!”
“Sure, I’ll be quiet. But touch my sister, and you will feel the wrath of an older sister. You can threaten me all you want, but that won’t change.” I gave the man another hard stare. Personally, I could handle this situation, and it seemed like it was well on the way to being solved anyway, but I felt bad for Sandra.
Plus, it made me angry that it might wreck our memories of Momma Yufufu’s fun day out. So he was going to pay.
“Weird kid… What game is she playing…?” The man turned his eyes away from me and cut the conversation off, but I could see a bead of cold sweat dripping down his face. He definitely sensed something out of the ordinary here.
I rubbed Sandra’s back. “It’s all right,” I told her. “I’m here. Anyone who harms our family will meet their doom.” Just to be mean, I teased the man with an expression that would give him the shivers.
“Thanks… I feel a little better now.”
“That’s good, then.”
The carriage finally stopped at the entrance to some woods. It seemed like they were using an abandoned hut as their base.
“Come on, you two, out.”
“Hey, how many of you are here now?” I asked.
“Besides the two we left in town, everyone.”
Thanks for being so transparent. “Which means that there’s six here now, right?”
“Yeah, and what are you gonna do with that information? I’m not gonna let you run—”
I just leaped at the man’s face and punched him. He flew several yards away and collapsed in a limp heap. Guess I knocked his lights out.
“Great, even when I’m a kid, my power is still the same.” The driver was staring in shock, and I gave him a good jump kick before he could say anything. “I don’t want any rumors starting because I used magic, so I should just go at them with good ol’ fisticuffs.”
“It’s true… You really are super strong, Azusa…”
Oh, right, Sandra’s never seen me fight before. “You can’t really tell how strong I am just watching me beat up a bunch of small fry. Stay close to me until this is all over. If things get dicey, go underground.”
I went to put my hand on the doorknob of the hut’s front entrance—but I couldn’t…couldn’t reach…
I jumped and touched the knob, but it was locked!
“Agh, screw this!” I splintered the wooden door with a punch.
Just like the man had told me, there were four more enemies inside. They seemed to be having trouble processing that one of the walls had broken and a little girl had come inside. They might have thought they were dreaming.
“Sorry, criminals, but I’m going to have to ask you to cooperate.”
I leaped onto a nearby table, pivoted on my right foot, and kicked with my left!
The plan was to send one of them flying to the far wall, but the tips of my toes just barely touched him. I missed. Right…I had a shorter reach because I was small…
“What are you doing?!” yelled one of the men as he came at me with a knife. I took one of the plates on the table and slammed him with it.
When he stumbled back, I jumped off the table and drop-kicked him!
“How’s that?! A kiddie kick hurts, huh?!” I shouted, then dashed straight to the other side of the room and head-butted another one of the men before he could recover from his shock.
“What is this? What is happening? Why is this kid so strong…?”
The last one was almost in tears over what he’d just witnessed.
“Well then, how should I put an end to this? Heh-heh-heh…”
“Sh-she’s…a monster…”
I approached him slowly. Sometimes, you just want to cut loose without feeling bad about it. “There’s nowhere for you to run. Just give up.”
“Eep! Please, we can let this all just be water under—”
And then he did indeed disappear underwater.
Like a flash flood, an enormous mass of water shattered the window and crashed into the man!
Oh yeah, there was a movie like this. There was a research facility at the bottom of the ocean getting flooded with water, and then a shark gets inside…
We were on land, so there obviously weren’t any sharks, but the man was washed straight into the wall and fell unconscious.
“Are either of you hurt?!” Momma Yufufu came in through the broken window. A regular person couldn’t pull off a stunt like that, so it was most definitely the power of our resident droplet spirit, Momma Yufufu. “When I heard you two had been kidnapped, I came right away!”
“We’re fine. They couldn’t hurt me if they tried, and Sandra’s okay, too.”
“I’m so, so relieved!” Momma Yufufu squeezed us both tightly.
I could feel her powerful love. In the end, it didn’t matter if we were actually related or not. Time didn’t matter much to us, so it was no big deal.
But pressure from her chest really was painful… You’re so big, Momma Yufufu… Think of the children…
There was no doubt that this was the greatest act of violence in this whole kidnapping incident… This could probably even be its own finishing move… Oxygen… I need oxygen…
And Sandra was literally on the verge of passing out, so I put a firm stop to it.
“Oh right, what happened to the other two in the kidnapping ring?”
“Momma taught those bad men a lesson. I put them underwater, but not enough to kill them.”
She made sure they were out of the picture before coming to save her daughters.
You’re supposed to save us first and then attack them… We were hostages, you know…
“I’m so sorry for putting you in such a scary situation. I can’t take my eyes off you for even a moment…”
“This was a special case, so don’t worry about it.”
“Perhaps you’re right. Now then, why don’t we go home?”
“Wait, Momma, we should really tell city hall or something about this…”
Even if we had destroyed all eight members of the kidnapping ring without breaking a sweat, it was still a big incident.
Everyone in the kidnapping group was arrested. It was hard to imagine this was their first crime, so I hoped they paid for their wrongdoings.
We instead had trouble explaining who we were to the town. Things could get complicated if we introduced Yufufu as a spirit.
“See, Momma’s a really great witch. That’s why she also protected us with magic.”
I made up a story instead. Conversely, it was hard to think a sweet, innocent child was lying, and there was nothing weird about a story of a witch using magic.
The criminals might testify that I was really strong, but we could probably deal with that by saying it was just an effect of the magic.
“I see. So she stores her magical power in her chest, is that right? I can see why she’s a great sorceress, then.”
How did that make sense?
The people in this town were way too obsessed with Momma Yufufu’s bosom…
We went shopping after that, holding hands the entire time.
“Momma, you don’t have to hold on to me so tightly like that. I’m fine.”
“No. Both of you are much too cute; you never know when you might be kidnapped!”
I couldn’t protest, since we were literally just kidnapped.
But after some time out and about, Sandra’s steps started growing heavier.
“I got tired all of a sudden… It’s rough walking around with my roots.”
“Then Momma will carry you on her back, okay?”
Sandra fell asleep on Momma Yufufu’s back.
The sun was starting to set.
We made a lovely picture—me walking with my mom in the sunset as she carried my little sister.
“Thank you for taking me up on such a selfish request, Azusa,” Momma Yufufu said earnestly. “I think this is the happiest day in all my fifty years.”
“This was one of the best days I’ve ever had, too.” I clung to her as I walked. “It’s fun being the head of a household, but it’s nice to be the kid every once in a while.” If a relationship changed, that just meant it could bring a new kind of happiness. “I’ll come back and visit you with Sandra again sometime.”
People talk about once-in-a-lifetime experiences, but there was no rule that it only ever had to be once. I could see her as many times as I wanted.
“Oh, yes, I’ll be waiting for you! You’re welcome at any time!”
I was sure she really meant it, too.
“And you can be small whenever you like, Azusa!” Momma Yufufu’s eyes were glittering…
“I mean, I’d rather not…”
Kid version of me sure was popular…
By the way, I know it probably seemed like that was the last day we played mom and daughter together, but I spent another five days with Momma Yufufu as a little girl.
“You’re staying again today, right? Right?”
“Okay, fine… But just this one day…”
That happened every morning, so I couldn’t really get home. If it was going to be like this, we should’ve nailed down how many days this was going to be from the start.
On the other hand, Sandra had completely accepted Momma Yufufu as her mom, and on the last day, Sandra was pounding her shoulders to massage them.
In her eyes, was Momma Yufufu more her mom than I was now…?
“How is that? Is that okay?”
“Ahhh, thank you, Sandra. My shoulders get stiff; I wonder if it’s because of my chest.”
Tch. Listening to them made me grumpy. If there was a mushroom that could turn me into a little girl, why couldn’t there be a mushroom that would just make my boobs big?
“You’re much more like a mom than Azusa is. Why is that?” Sandra’s innocent question made me even angrier.
Wasn’t that only because her boobs were a hundred times bigger than mine…? They were sort of a symbol of motherhood, after all…
“Well, Sandra, that’s because—”
I could feel Momma Yufufu looking at me, and I got the sense she was trying to be considerate.
“—I’ve been alive much longer than Azusa has been. I’m sure that’s why~”
I learned then that people’s kindness sometimes hurts others.
Maybe the next time I shrink, I should go through my rebellious stage…
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