A tale of the past.
This is a story about RiNana.
Oh, and it was the 200th chapter! I will keep ’em coming!
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“I’ve missed this.”
“Do you still remember?”
“How could I forget?”
Seeing Rin-chan looking a little happy brings back fond memories.
With its countless monitors, this room once existed in the main Takajou family when we were little.
You could say that this is the room that made the current Rin-chan.
As I was reminiscing, I remember that was probably the time I truly learned of Rin-chan’s greatness.
☆
With her cute little footsteps making a cute sound, four-year-old Nanaka was walking down the corridor of the main Takajou house, searching for Rinne.
She knew where Rinne was by smell and sound, and she wondered why she was not in her usual room. Nonetheless, there was no hesitation in her steps.
Nanaka’s position in this mansion is quite privileged. She is not restricted or watched, and she is allowed to explore wherever she wants, whenever she wants.
This morning, after being left at the main gate of the mansion by her mother who had to leave for work early, Nanaka entered the mansion on her own and went to Rinne’s place.
Of course, even though she did so on her own, her visit was known when she was left at the gate.
The reason why the people in the mansion do not follow the young Nanaka is that they are aware of the power that Nanaka possesses. She could easily hurt people around her without even the slightest intention to do so.
Thus, so as not to hurt her heart any further, the only people allowed to have contact with Nanaka in the mansion are basically Rinne and her parents.
There are also two more reasons why Nanaka is in such a special situation.
One is the close relationship between the parents.
Nanaka’s mother, Haruka Futayado, is a close friend of the owner of the house, Toki Takajou, and her father, Seiji Futayado and Kouki Takajou, are also close friends with a strong bond.
As both are the daughters of such irreplaceable friends, it was natural that they would accept Nanaka easily. And since she’s a child, her doll-like emotionlessness expression still could be seen as a charming trait.
In fact, Nanaka was even treated with affection by the employees of the mansion, who would often offer her sweets.
The second reason was that Nanaka had risked her life to save Rinne from a rabid dog attack.
Although that was an unfortunate accident, it has shown how gentle Nanaka’s heart really is; it was a heart that can be used to properly “protect” the dormant violence in her body. People no longer consider Nanaka’s presence is a danger to Rinne.
Also, thanks to that, Nanaka is almost like a child of the family; she could wander around the mansion on her own.
“Oh, it’s Nanaka, isn’t it?”
On her way to Rinne, Nanaka ran into Rinne’s mother, Toki. Next to her parents and Rinne, she was one of the few people that Nanaka allowed herself to trust.
Nanaka opened her mouth, staring blankly at Toki, who squatted down a little so that she did not have to look up at her and made eye contact with her.
“…Mrs… Toki …..Good morning.”
“Yes, good morning. You are very early today. Are you alone?”
Nanaka answers Toki’s question, squinting her eyes as she is patted on the head by Toki.
“…… Yes, that’s right. Mommy got work to do.”
“I see, so you were here early because of it. I wish Haruka would at least call me to say something instead of leaving you alone at the gate…”
[Toki-chan, thanks!], Toki chuckled as she pictured her best friend’s face cheerfully, making a funny expression.
Nanaka’s mother, Haruka Futayado, is like the sun. She was brighter and more energetic than anyone else, shining and sharing happiness with everyone.
There was a time when she was troubled by the power that Nanaka possesses, but now she seems to have made up her mind and is back to her usual self.
When Haruka told her that his own daughter had crushed her hand, even Toki could not believe her ears.
Only after she saw Nanaka, who had been so full of energy ever since she was born, was crying in her emotionless doll-like face, did she realize that it was the truth.
Toki knew about Nanaka since birth, although that time she had not yet let Rinne and Nanaka meet.
She also knew some of the record of their growth via Haruka and had planned to introduce her to Rinne, thinking they could also become lifelong friends.
She was a girl full of energy as if she were a living copy of her best friend. She would surely become a dear friend of Rinne’s. However, that future came true in a slightly different direction.
After hurting her mother, Nanaka closed her mind, and after examining her, all that was found was that she had a [Mysterious Superhuman] quality.
There are too many mysterious aspects about the power that Nanaka possesses.
It is rare for a child to possess extraordinary powers from an early age, but the cases do exist.
One would have an unusual tendency to gain muscle mass, and yet hardly enlarged in appearance. And the result is a person with incredibly dense muscles.
In this case, because of the increased density of muscle fibers, the bodyweight swells to an unimaginable degree.
For example, a young child can weigh as much as a professional fighter.
At first, Toki thought that Nanaka was the same way.
But no. Nanaka’s weight is so light compared to children of the same size, and her muscle density is no different from that of a normal child at a glance.
After much investigation, she found that Nanaka’s body, from the skeleton and muscle fibers to the nerves and even the individual cells, was not comparable to that of an ordinary living creature.
It is just purely, terribly strong, and the output is different by order of magnitude.
A superhuman or a monster?
The young girl in front of Toki has enough power to reap the life of Toki if she wants to at this very moment.
And what is a most frightening fact is that she is still young and in the process of growing up.
Even Toki could not imagine how much stronger she will be when she comes of age, and her body is fully developed…
However, that’s just a matter of the body. In the end, it is the heart that counts.
Nanaka certainly possesses a tender heart that will protect what is important to her.
“Mrs. Toki…?”
Toki held her urge to hug Nanaka, who tilted her head slightly as if she could see that Toki was a little lost in her thought.
(Damn, she is adorable. What’s more, she really looks just like Haruka did when she was little.
It wouldn’t hurt to spoil her for a bit.)
Thinking of this, Toki lifted her up in a princess hug, and Nanaka’s eyes fluttered, but she did not resist.
“Do you want to go to Rinne’s place?”
“um.. I want to…”
She can’t help but chuckle at the star that sparkles in her eyes as soon as Toki mentions Rinne’s name.
Nanaka is just like her mother. Her gestures, her emotional expressions, and many other aspects are undoubtedly inherited from Haruka.
“Nanaka really loves Rinne, doesn’t she?”
Hearing Toki’s words, Nanaka squeezed her hand.
“I don’t know about love… But Rin-chan’s hand is warm.”
“That feeling is what people generally call love.”
“…..then, I love her.”
Nanaka happily puts her hand on her chest, and Toki, too, can’t help but smile.
“That’s good. Please tell Rinne about it.”
“…..okay.”
“Then let’s head over to Rinne’s place. I’m sure you’ll see some interesting things thanks to your early arrival today.”
“….interesting?”
“Yes. This is when Rinne’s work the hardest.”
Hearing Toki’s words, Nanaka tilted her head.
For Nanaka, work is something her father and mother do. Rin-chan is a child, so she shouldn’t have to work.
While thinking about this, they reached Nanaka’s goal, the room where Rin-chan is.
“Let’s be quiet and watch over her. “
Toki, who had been holding Nanaka up in her arms, lowers her down and shows a ssh finger gesture, then carefully opens the door as quietly as she can.
Nanaka sensed the irregular flood of sounds, like the hustle and bustle of an urban environment. The difference was that each one of them was quite loud, too loud to be ignored as insignificant.
Nanaka frowned a little at the sound, but she didn’t care and peeked inside the room.
The room was a strange one. It was a room with countless monitors embedded in it.
Rinne was sitting in the center of the room, tapping away at the keyboard at a speed that would be hard to believe that it belonged for a four-year-old.
“… yes, yes, no, yes, no, no, no, yes, no, no, no”
Nanaka has no idea what is displayed on the screen covering the entire front of the room.
However, she can see that more than 40 screens display different contents, and she can tell that Rinne is typing something related to it on his keyboard.
After watching Rinne’s work for about five minutes, Toki gently closed the door.
“Nanaka, can you see all those screens at the same time?”
“I can… but I only need to look… right? “
Nanaka answered Toki’s question.
From Nanaka’s range of perception, it is easy to capture the entire screen within her field of vision.
However, that is literally just looking at it. If she wants to recognize the contents displayed properly, she has to focus her concentration on them, and as a result, Nanaka can only process on three screens at a time at the most.
The same is true for sound. While Nanaka is able to capture the sounds emitted by a particular monitor from among the many monitors, she is unable to recognize all of them as meaningful sounds.
This is because this is something that requires ability and is not just a matter of how perceptive you are.
“Nanaka. Just as you have extraordinary power, Rinne also has an extraordinary brain like you. The abnormality she possesses is what I would describe in general terms as parallel thinking.”
“… hei, ryu, shimoku?”
Seeing Nanaka tilting her head, Toki thinks it is only natural.
Because Nanaka is only a four-year-old child, she would not be able to understand what parallel thinking meant.
Knowing this, Toki still chose to tell Nanaka.
Almost without exception, children of the Takajou family are born with both strengths and weaknesses.
For example, Shiran, the eldest son, is a perfect superhuman with impeccable athletic and brain abilities, but he is being cursed by an ugly face.
The second son, Renya, is the exact opposite, gifted with outstanding looks and a personality and speaking ability with no equal, but in exchange, almost all of his abilities are far below human standards.
Of course, her husband, Kouki, likewise has some weaknesses along with strengths.
Those around long enough with this family will easily learn that this is a Takajou family trait, and the only exception to this is Toki’s new niece, Touka.
Naturally, Rinne is not deviating from this trait either.
The girl is extremely athletically challenged, so badly that she might as well be cursed.
Still, it was a problem.
The gift that Rinne had in exchange for that cursed body was enough to turn the entire Takajou group upside down.
(Rinne’s parallel thinking is far beyond the scope of human common sense.)
Parallel thinking simply means that one could think about two or more things at the same time. You can think of it as executing parallel processing computers had using the human brain.
But of course, even an ordinary person can study while conversing with his or her family. But that was something that they could do after get used for a long time. If it was something they were doing for the first time, it would become much more difficult to do multiple things at once.
However, Rinne is different.
(The maximum number of parallel processing Rinne could handle is well over 100. And that’s not even a real measurement, considering she’s only three years old. Because she already solved the entrance exam of the highest academic institution at this age with a perfect score.)
Although it is uncertain if Rinne, who can run 100 thoughts simultaneously, can also understand things 100 times faster than a normal person, the fact is that the results are still hardly unacceptable.
At the age of four, there is already no one in the Takajou group who is smarter than Rinne. She has such a monstrous talent.
And such an image of Rinne is now shown to Nanaka.
Even now, that girl is still giving instructions to her company overseas while organizing information from all more than 40 monitors.
She controls dozens of companies whose managers act as puppets of Rinne, a people who have nothing to do with the Takajou group, and continues to increase her assets at a tremendous rate.
[One day, Nana and I will live together. And I’m going to use this money to pay for it.]
Toki felt both relieved and frightened by the girl who laughed and said that to her.
In front of Nanaka, Rinne showed her gentle side while enjoying a childish game. And when Nanaka is not looking, she enjoys the money game in this way.
Toki considered Rinne’s talent dangerous to the point that she felt a terrible fear and imagined the day Rinne would direct this ability to destroy Takajou’s group.
But that worry only lasted until she met Nanaka.
“A person who plays the piano can make different movements with his right and left hands, can’t they? Simply put, Rinne has a hundred of those hands.”
“Rin-chan, you are amazing.”
Nanaka’s eyes are shining brighter than ever as if she somehow understood the awesomeness of Toki’s story.
The pianist’s ability may not be parallel thinking, but this is just the right metaphor to make Nanaka understand.
Given Nanaka’s imagination, she must be imagining Rinne with many hands like a thousand-armed Senju Kannon.
(I knew it was the right choice for her.)
Toki Takajou is a rational person. She would not leave Nanaka, a dangerous thing, by his precious daughter’s side just because his best friend asked her to.
One of the reasons is that she wants her to fulfill her role as a bodyguard, but that too is practically an afterthought.
As the youngest daughter of the main Takajou family and with one of the most vicious brains of all time, Rinne will live with a lot of jealousy and harmful intentions directed towards her.
This is what people called [Fame Tax]. Rinne, who was born blessed, must also accept these negative feelings. {in the meme that would be [suffering from success].}
At the age of four, she is already much smarter than Toki. She understands such things and has a strong enough mental strength to accept them.
However, even if she understands, the negative feelings she receives from others will surely erode her heart, slowly destroying it.
Eventually, Rinne will need someone who could heal her pain and stand beside her at the same height.
That said, no one like that existed in the relatives in the Takajou family. There was no one who had talent even close to Rinne.
The only one who came close was the eldest son, Shiran, but he was already in the position of being Rinne’s older brother. He could never stand beside her as an equal.
That’s when Nanaka appeared. She’s someone who has an unusual talent in a different direction from Rinne.
As Toki carefully placed her with Rinne and continued to monitor her on a daily basis, Toki was convinced that this girl would be all right.
The talent she had is one factor, but what was most favorable was the way she was.
Whenever Rinne boasts about something, she is pleased as if it were her own.
Nanaka is happy with her friend’s achievement, and her feeling is clearly conveyed to Rinne, and they are genuine.
This purity of Nanaka is the biggest reason why Toki decided to place Nanaka by Rinne’s side.
Toki was afraid for the time that Rinne couldn’t stand the negative feelings that finally piled up and then exploded, and the Takajou group was the one who would receive the explosion.
However, this worry has disappeared after encountering Nanaka, who possesses a talent that Rinne could never hope to attain.
No matter what happens, Nanaka’s presence will save Rinne.
Just as Rinne brought Nanaka out of the darkness.
A talent of Brain and Body. Because they are two sides of the same coin, they are able to respect and complement each other without envying each other.
Nanaka was now moving her hands, maybe because she imagined Rinne’s many hands, while Toki looked into Nanaka’s bright eyes.
And not long after, Rinne came out of her room after finishing her work.
“Oh my, it’s Nana. You were early today.”
“….Rin-chan, good morning.”
“Um, good morning.”
She walks cutely toward Rinne and clings to her arm as if that is a place she belongs.
Toki stared at Rinne’s happy expression as she received her as if they were lovers.
(Come to think of it, Haruka used to be like this too. Every time she found me, she would happily run to me… I guess that means blood can’t be fooled.)
Even if she only laughs when Rinne is around.
(It seems that my best friend’s blood has been passed down to her daughter.)
(I wonder if one day Nanaka will be able to smile and laugh as innocently as she used to.)
“Mother, we’re going.”
“Yes, please come to the cafeteria for lunch.”
“Understood! Come on, Nana, let’s go!”
“….um!”
After sending them off running with childish footsteps, Toki headed for her room to complete her morning’s work.
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It may have been the first time I mentioned the names of Nana’s parents. {yeah, especially her father, I thought you totally forgot about him, lol.}
I want to reveal a little more about this area(story).
By the way, Touka has not been told the truth about Nana’s constitution by Rinne. She keeps it as secret as possible.
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