Prologue Ep-6

 “H-Hime-chan, this place is…”

“It’s okay! I’ve been here once before! With Papa and Mama and bigbro!”

“That’s exactly why… this is the kind of place you come to with your family, or at least with an adult. Hime-chan!”

Perhaps the fact that she had been here once before made her feel bolder, because Hime-chan continued marching forward along the hiking trail.

Come to think of it, momentum is important for an otome game protagonist as well.

After all, bold actions such as sudden physical contact with capture targets or abruptly calling them by nicknames require strong mental fortitude.

…Just to be safe, I secretly checked Hime-chan’s current status, and her Stamina and Mental values had indeed increased.

Lately, we had been playing together frequently in the park, and I had been praising her at every opportunity.

Her self-esteem must have risen as well. But if this continued, she might turn into a reckless muscle-brain. Raising a protagonist is difficult, I think.

“Hime-chan! There! You’re leaving the trail. That’s dangerous!”

While I had briefly looked away to think about her status values, the person in question had already clung to a rock with extremely unstable footing and started picking up acorns.

Acorns are everywhere, you know. What we were really looking for were flowers.

“It’s okay, it’s okay. Bigbro picked round stones here like this the other day.”

Hime-chan’s older brother is three years older than her. He is quick and agile, and because of that, Hime-chan sometimes has a tendency to imitate him and attempt dangerous things.

That might be fine when parents are watching, but not when it is just us children. Like right now. A chill runs down my back, accompanied by an unpleasant sheen of sweat.

“Look, look, Matsuri-chan. From here, you can see lots of pretty flowers blooming over there.”

Having spotted a field of flowers, Hime-chan excitedly let go of the rock she had been gripping with both hands and beckoned me toward her.

Eh?

Her body swayed and tilted backward.

A child’s body has a relatively heavy head. If she fell straight backward, she would not be able to break her fall properly.

“Hime-chan!”

With my own six-year-old body, all I could do in that instant was throw myself over Hime-chan, shielding her as we fell together from the rock.