The disappearance of the mouse spirit had upset Kotori’s brother greatly, but like most young children his emotions waned and waxed like the moon, and soon after being soothed by my mother he was fast asleep on the mattress next to me.
Her brother had the same brown hair as her father, overall looked much more like him. Kotori did not know what exactly she looked like since this family did not own a mirror.
His soft breathing lulled Kotori into a meditative stance.
[I guess brothers can be cute like this]
While this was happening, her mother began to prepare dinner with a small pot. It seems to be a thin rice gruel filled with mostly vegetables. There was a little salt added to flavor it. Although the gruel was simple, there must have been a little ginger inside because it greatly warmed Kotori's stomach and she was grateful for eating anything at all.
Her brother had woken up in time to eat and was enjoying dinner with the family. Kotori watched as he balanced a small wooden bowl in his hands and tried to use the wooden hewn utensils. He seemed to pick at his food while avoiding the major chunks of vegetables that were in it.
“Ryuji eat your vegetables” Her mother chided
“I don’t wanna!” Ryuji protest
Her mother flashed him a glare
“Don’t make me force it down your throat”
“Eep!” Ryuji yelped and began to obediently eat his vegetables.
Kotori seeing the scene was reminiscing
[Ah reminds me of my old mother] she thought
Kotori also hated vegetables when she was younger and was often scolded for it. She had never really grown out of her dislike of them but had learned to endure it for the sake of her health. Kotori was a thorough carnivore and thus still felt a bit of longing towards being able to eat meat right now. The image of a juicy steak flashed in her mind. Though she was aware that it was unlikely she was even going to get it. She tried to ask anyway
“Hey, when do we get to eat meat”
“Meat? How do you know about that?” her mother asked
“No meat!” she exclaimed
[This really is hell!] Kotori panicked internally. Thinking that this was a world full of vegetarians.
“Hush, you’ll be able to eat meat soon enough when you find a nice man to marry, or when you become 16”
[Oh]
It was through this conversation that Kotori realized that meat just a rare commodity.
[Though 16 to be considered an adult? that seems a little young.] she thought
In the world, Kotori had come from people would become legal adults at 18 years of age. Become an adult at 16 seemed quite literally “juvenile” Once again, she was stuck with the reality of how utterly hopeless her life had become.
Everybody else had also finished eating and seemed to be waiting for something to happen. She quickly finished her food and set the bowl down patiently waiting with them. Kotori had no clue what was going on and simply went with the flow here. She was trying to fit in and hide the fact that she wasn’t really the original “Kotori” anymore.
Her father pulled out a small reed he places the end of the reed against his mouth and began to blow on it. Kotori’s face lit up in surprise when she realized the reed was in fact a flute. Her father’s hands which were thick and calloused deftly played a small tune.
The tune he played was a light and jovial song which made the heavy atmosphere of the small house seemed to light up.
[So, we at least have some entertainment]
“What song is that papa!” She asked
Sato Hikki looked at his cute daughter “Oh I don’t know”
“Wow!” Kotori looked at her father in amazement “Who taught you?”
Her mother butted in
“Kotori, didn’t we tell you that your father was accepted to train at the Atlea royal music academy,” Her mother said
“Well…” Her father started
“I was only there for a couple of years since I couldn’t pay tuition,” he said sheepishly
“As for the song, I just make them up as I go” her father explained.
It was then Kotori realized her father was quite talented. Being able to simply make up a song on the fly rather difficult for any normal musicians
“Can you teach me!” She asked
In truth, Kotori had always wanted to learn an instrument but had never gotten the chance too. Her father was a musical genius and she saw this as an exciting opportunity to finally do something she always wanted to in her past life.
“Hmm, I guess I can,” Her father said.
“Your father even plays for the Baron Derkin sometimes,” her mother said
“Baron?” Kotori said confused
“I guess you’ve never met him before, don’t worry a Baron is a nice man his taxes are fair and he rarely bothers the peasants, although I’m not sure you want to meet him” Her father explained
[I see, so this world is under some kind of feudal system]
Kotori wondered why her father showed hesitancy toward letting her see the Baron especially when he just described the Baron as a nice man.
Her father played a few more tunes
Until eventually her brother said, “Papa, play the one!”
Her father who was still in the middle of a song stopped playing, lowering his flute. He asked “Ryuji you aren’t tired of that song yet? you ask me to play it every time”
“It’s my favorite. I want to hear it again!” he said
Her father sighed and then smiled.
He once again picked up his flute to begin playing a different song. This one was much different than the others, it almost seemed to hum in the air.
[Hmm? What’s this]
Kotori knew something was immediately different in this song from others and once her father finished the song, she quickly asked him about it.
“Hey papa what was that,” she asked
“Ah, that was a song with magic,” Kotori thought back to her father's status. He did indeed have some mana in it. Although, it didn’t seem like much.
“Can you teach me that?” She asked,
“Well… it’s not something you can learn really easily it took me two years at the academy to just do that little” he said he seemed very hesitant to teach her how to use mana melodies despite the fact that he accepted her previous request.
Kotori was saddened it seemed like she would be stuck playing normal tunes unless she put in a large amount of effort and she wasn’t willing to put in the time to do it.
Her father played a few more tunes. Although, it seemed that playing the short song infused with mana had made him quite tired and soon, he stopped. Afterwards, everybody piled onto the same straw mat to settle down for the night. This was apparently a culture where everybody slept together instead of separately.
Not that there was any space to sleep separately in the small cramped house anyway…
Gotta eat your veggies to grow up big and strong!
yeeeees!
I have always wondered why kids dislike veggies. I was same back when I was kid. It is like people are born to dislike veggies but when they grow up they get used to them.
@RavenWolf I think the tastebuds aren’t developed enough, so they can barely taste it but it is unpleasant feeling -I don’t remember my childhood other than memories like getting my dog and whatnot-
@EmporerDuoLingo That's not exactly true, infants actually have 3 times more taste buds than that of an adult so they are more likely to pick up on tastes than an adult would. This is probably due to an evolutionary need for children to learn which foods are edible and which are not as most toxic vegetation are bitter. Thus inevitably the bland and bitter vegetable are more likely to be disliked in child because of the superior number of taste buds they have.
@tam0059 Oh lol it was the exact opposite.
@RavenWolf It might sound stupid but as a kid I just had an instinctual fear of vegetables. Whenever I ate green beans that are slightly too watery everything in my stomach started coming up and there was no stopping. I can at least say my disdain for vegetables was justified
@DaMarcus Oof. I couldn’t eat broccoli with cheese or Brusselsprouts.
@EmporerDuoLingo I still think that cheese trees are awful, I don't know how to explain it but I guess the closest I can think of is I feel like I'm eating used tires
@DaMarcus My mother made me eat broccoli and cheese but it was expired, so I was sick and now just avoid it constantly
@EmporerDuoLingo The conclusion I reached with this is that kids probably don't avoid vegetables strictly because they're gross but also because it traumatized them
@DaMarcus Yep
@EmporerDuoLingo I can feel my 'clown to clown communication' level rising
@DaMarcus Same bro
@RavenWolf My sister and I loved veggies, especially Spinach surprisingly
@TheMangaGod Contrary to popular belief spinach isn't actually the hell vegetable, it's pretty good
@DaMarcus Especially with salt and butter!
@TheMangaGod I was afraid people would call me weird if I said that kekeke
@DaMarcus Eat what you like! A wonderful quirk of being human is we eat just about anything so go crazy
@TheMangaGod Pizza with mayonnaise and mustard eaten from the side. Would you like to change your mind?
Yes / No
@DaMarcus Nope go ahead, you first. I’ll eat after you... in all seriousness though I’ve had fry sauce on a pizza before and it was... not terrible.
@TheMangaGod Both of you need to die. AGAIN. BOTH OF YOU NEED WHATEVER GOD YOU WORSHIP.
@EmporerDuoLingo No I tried to imagine a nightmare pizza but this man AGREED
@DaMarcus Not necessarily, I just... didn’t disagree. Lol
@TheMangaGod You don't dip tacos in milk, do you?
@DaMarcus god no.
@TheMangaGod Alright, then, you're safe in my books
This comment section's too long.
Also, I liked lettuce and tomatoes when I was a kid and still do until this day.
@Spageto I think you've now given us permission to keep this train going!
Goddess, forgive me what hell I have unleashed here.
@RavenWolf There is no forgiveness for this sin!
@RavenWolf Thee ought to shouldst'r this sineth with thy life
@RavenWolf i quite liked brocoli and carrots. I think it depends on how they are cooked
@drakensji Isn't broccoli really bitter?
@Spageto must not have eaten it steamed and covered in oil
@Spageto Depends on how you cook it.
@TheMangaGod At this point whenever I get a new comment ping it's a 50% chance you all are still updating this thread.
@Newfypuppie We're just worried her little brother didn't want to eat his veggies to grow up big and strong
@Newfypuppie at least it isn't a string of emojis. On Tree of Aeon there is a chapter where a person would make a string of swordsman blob emojis, and the person afterwards would make a longer string. It went on for days
@drakensji I actually love vegetables! Broccoli! Onions! Spinach! Ocra! Brussel sprouts! I LOVE IT ALL! MWAHAHAHA.. hehe.
@Mythaasophobia I’m going to end your bloodline, thou must not be allowed to live.
@EmporerDuoLingo what if he pays in languages?
@drakensji How would you pay with a language?
@Spageto well considering Duo lingo demands people learn a language, you could either learn a language for them, or you can create a language for them to teach
@drakensji Duo lingo?
@Spageto Come here. You haven’t been learning your Latin durum recently.
@EmporerDuoLingo Get away from me! I doth not wisheth to learneth thy f'reign and frightening languages yond gives me a humour of apprehension!!
@Spageto i think that qualifies as a foreign language in itself
@Spageto Thou shan’t rid myself, as I am The Emperor.
@EmporerDuoLingo I'm trying out Duolingo.
@EmporerDuoLingo I don't like the fact that you can't study English with English. I tried some tests, but I'm failing many times because I have to translate to Spanish.
@Spageto are you trying to learn english? but can only select the english language if the base language is different?
@drakensji It's weird how you worded it, but yes, that is it. I can't select the same language I'm trying to learn.
@Spageto its late here
@drakensji 22:24 it's so cold here, 3.3ºC.
@Spageto 3:26, pretty ok here 13 ºC.
@EmporerDuoLingo Try me... I'll feed you Brussel sprouts!
@Mythaasophobia I've never seen a Brussel sprout.
@Spageto there's a first time for everything!
@Mythaasophobia I ripped out the last of my taste buds, your defenses are useless.
@EmporerDuoLingo NOOOOO!!! MY DELICATE DASTARDLY CONSTRUCTED SCHEMES!! MY CAFEFULLY CRAFTED PLANS!!! MY PLOTS!! MY PLOYS!! YOUUUU MONSTER!!!
@Mythaasophobia >:)
@EmporerDuoLingo *munches on broccoli then sobs*
@RavenWolf i born to clean off any garbage later developed a liking to sweets
Godzilla had a stroke trying to read this and **** died.
@RavenWolf I wasn't, I actually was born loving veggies, or was it that I hated plants and wanted them to die, I don't remember, it was ov a million years ago.
@Nyxstella Did most dinosaurs actually have feathers?
@Spageto yes, and humans didn't evolve from apes, my ex-girlfriend YHWH just placed you here as an experiment. she was still a young goddess.
@Nyxstella can you tell your ex to fix the mistakes she made? As a young goddess I can't be too critical but she should be able to do better now, right? Knees, spine, menstruation and childbirth really need a rework
@drakensji Sorry, she lost her access key to humanity's files a while back, but don't worry divine beings also go through that.