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Akira wouldn’t undo my restraint. Does she expect me to do something else? With both hands behind my back, I feel like a criminal. It’s no question that I just caused physical harm. But it was against my own father. Our positions are reversed, but this is disciplinary guidance.

“My arms are getting exhausted, you know?”
“With there being no way to guess what you’ll do next, I’ll never let go of you.”
“No matter what?”
“What? Are you going to break free by force?”
“No, I’m going to use my family’s influence.”

Akira and the others are acting under mom’s instructions. Making eye contact with mom, Akira had no choice but to free me. It’s unfortunate, but that’s the weakness of a person employed. Still, why isn’t she going away yet?

“You’ve been so radical lately, it’s been burning a hole through my stomach.”
“There’s a lot of reasons for that”
“What reason do you have to knee your own father with murderous intent?”

I mean, I genuinely didn’t plan on going that far. That was all me moving on impulse. I don’t regret it, though. After all, since I did all that, I must’ve wanted to do that somewhere deep inside my heart. I didn’t expect Kotone to stop me, though.

“That alleviated some of my pent up frustration.”
“You did that much and it’s just ‘some’, huh.”

Father is holding down his crotch and nose, glaring vigilant at me as I approach him with Akira and Kyousuke next to me. Why are these two following me? Akira alone is enough to stop me, you know?

“Father. Have you understood what I wanted to say?”
“He definitely didn’t learn.”

While father only continued groaning without saying a word, Akira shared her thoughts. Maybe it’s because I broke his nose? Having blood going down his throat would make talking difficult. It’s difficult to swallow down, and doing that would just make you feel worse.

“Now please learn your lesson to value your family more.”
“You make it sound like a threat.”

I really don’t know why Akira is the one answering me. As before, father is only glaring at me without giving any reply. Within his defiant eyes, I can see a slight tinge of fear towards me. Looks like I need a bit more stimulus to break his spirit.

“You should properly listen to your children’s… opinions!”

Forcing his face up by the collar, I punch his right cheek with all my strength. My knuckles are hurting, but that was a pretty solid punch. Father was safely knocked out. And then Akira restrained my arms again and forcefully separated us.

“You idiot! What are you finishing him off for!”
“I didn’t see any sign of self-reflection, so further action was necessary. And with that, my objective is complete.”

I got him in the balls and knee-ed him on the head, but my original objective here was to punch him in the face. It was a real shame that he blocked the first punch. He chose the more painful choice, so it can’t be helped. Also, if he showed some self-reflection, then I wouldn’t have punched him. I think.

“Your goal was to punch your father?”
“Yes. That was the final objective for this whole incident.”
“Are you out of your mind?”

I just visited the other twelve families as a form of harassment, as well to confuse the bodyguards. The participation of the fools was expected, but was also unexpected. They always go well and beyond whatever I expect them to do. Capable and talented idiots cannot be controlled.

“Anyhow, please start treating this.”

With my instruction, the servants outside the room came in and carried Father out. I really hope that was enough to open his eyes. Still, even if he reformed, I still won’t forgive him. What has been done in the past does not just disappear. It’s something I’m very well aware of.

“Actually, why is grandfather trembling so much?”
“It must have triggered his trauma. He went through a similar experience in the past, you see.”
“His face is so pale.”
“His elder sister once snapped, mounted him, and continuously punched him in the face. It took several months to make a complete recovery.”

Just how much stress was grand-aunt under? I really think we’d get along if we had ever met. Moreover, considering how extreme grand-aunt is, I can’t imagine her not taking action against my stupid father.

“The way that she continuously punched my husband’s face with a smile scared me as well.”
“For a while, I couldn’t look at my own sister’s face. The trauma was so ingrained in me that seeing her smile made me faint.”

The Kisaragi family’s twistedness is awful. I thought grandfather was bad enough, but grand-aunt is unhinged to go even farther than I have. She definitely broke her knuckles and since they said continuously, she must’ve used both hands. It absolutely must’ve affected her daily life afterwards.

“So doing that much can bring them to sanity, got it.”
“Stop, Kotone. Right now, you shouldn’t approach the family head. Since you don’t know how to hold back, repeated punches from you will just kill him.”

Just as I thought of trying it out, Akira and Kyousuke grabbed me by the arms. Even I know how to hold back. It’s just that my brakes sometimes stop working. But before that happens, I’ll stop when my arms start hurting. After all, not being able to cook is a life or death problem.

“It can’t be helped. I’ll leave the rest for another opportunity.”
“We’re going to thoroughly watch you so you’ll never get that opportunity.”
“Our necks are on the line, after all.”

They’re really on high alert now. Why do they feel more like my stupid father’s bodyguards right now? I know they’re in charge of my personal security, but there hasn’t been anyone with the intention to harm me so far, and I don’t think they’d appear anytime soon.

“Who would have thought that Kotone would take the same action as your sister, right dear?”
“The order of who returns to sanity seems reversed, but I’ll consider this a good thing.”

By all rights, my stupid father should be the first one to go back to normal age-wise. He’s the one who ended up causing Kotone to get her sanity back. Actually, it’s a bit different. After all, I just became Kotone.

“Grandfather, why are you keeping so much distance from me?”
“Take a hint.”
“It’s tough for him to approach you since you’re exuding the same energy as his older sister.”

I was wondering why grandfather wouldn’t come near beyond a certain distance. Grandmother is smiling even with that, so maybe she has some screws loose too. She did marry a member of the twelve families, so I’m sure she has her own peculiarities.

“What I did wasn’t that extreme.”
“Unlike her sister, you tried to go for a one-hit knock-out.”
“In terms of extremeness, there’s not much of a difference.”

It took three hits to knock him out, though. No, I guess it was actually four. It’s far from being a one-hit knock-out. Still, I wonder if that was enough to make that stupid father have a change of heart. If not, I might have to punch his face until it changes shape, meaning I’ll need some hand protection.

“Big sis, it was awesome.”
“You had such fluid movements, elder sister.”
“Honestly, where did you even learn to move like that?”

My martial arts was mostly taught to me by Isami’s old man. He kept telling me boys need to grow up strong and stuff, I don’t know what influenced his belief in that. Still, it was better than being bored, so I was pretty enthusiastic about it back then.

“Kyousuke, are we actually necessary?”
“Kotone genuinely can do everything by herself.”

No, I do need bodyguards. There are many things I can’t do. Perfect people don’t really exist. Though Hadzuki is suspiciously close to being one. Does he actually have any flaws? It’s a mystery.

“Come to think of it, Kotone, why did you show that moment of hesitation?”
“I’m sure it’s because she was conflicted about killing her father.”
“Please don’t work under the assumption that I planned to murder him.”

That was all thanks to Kotone. She had never surfaced up until now, so why did she stop me back then? Maybe out of concern for her father? Even if she had turned back on her unrequited love, I guess some feelings still remain.