Dad has returned from the deserted island.
Chapter 20
“Found you!”
[Tsk. I only hid where it would be easy for you to find me.]
“Hehehe. You always say that! Then this time, Kiki, you have to find me!”
[Hmph.]
While Kiki covered his eyes with both hands and counted, Vivian scurried off toward the backyard.
‘Oh no, I have to hide quickly!’
Even though he always acted like a Divine Beast, Kiki and Vivian were perfectly matched when it came to playing.
They had already been playing hide-and-seek for over an hour.
Since it would soon be time to finish playing and learn her letters from Dad, the thought that she didn't have much time left made it feel even more fun.
Vivian looked around here and there, searching for a place to hide her body.
“I hid there last time, and hmm. Somewhere Kiki wouldn't be able to find easily is… huh?”
Vivian’s head tilted back.
A pitiful crying sound was drifting down from above.
“Peep-peep! Peep-peep!”
Her ears perked up at the desperate tone in the voice.
“Wh-where is that crying coming from?”
Before long, Vivian found the source of the sound.
A dense forest stretched out behind the Lambert family estate, and at the very top of a tree that stood out as particularly tall among them, something was happening.
A kitten, so small it was almost the size of Vivian’s hand, was clinging to a thin branch, crying out in distress.
With its dandelion-seed-like fluff sticking out in every direction, it looked more like a mouse than a cat because it was so insignificant.
Honestly, it was so small that it was barely visible.
Just then, the orange lump that had been under the tree came running toward Vivian.
[Child! Child! You can understand me, right?]
It was the cat Vivian called Nabi.
[Help me! Please save my baby!]
“Oh? That cat is—”
[My baby! I was sure they were playing well together, so I took a short nap, but how on earth did it climb up there?!]
The cat’s voice was so desperate that Vivian ran toward the tree before she even realized it.
But naturally, there was no way for Vivian to climb a tree that towered higher than their house.
“Y-you can’t climb up? You’re a cat, Nabi!”
[If I climb up, the branch will break!]
The cat had quite a heavy backside. The cat cried out, “Meow-ow-ow,” as if it were truly miserable.
Kiki, who had been searching for Vivian thinking she was hiding, heard the noise and rushed over. He looked extremely wary, as if he thought Vivian was fawning over that cat again.
[Vivian, you! Are you with that cat again—what is it, why is it crying like that?]
[Oh, Divine Beast! You are a Divine Beast, please, I beg you, save my baby!]
[Kiki?]
Hearing the situation, Kiki made a very troubled face.
[I could change into a different form to save that child, but then Vivian would collapse.]
“Why would I collapse?”
[Because you are still far too weak!]
“I’m not weak! Anne said I’m a sturdy child because I sleep well and eat well!”
[Forget about sleeping or whatever, just save my baby!]
It was chaos.
Up above, a kitten was peeping away, down below a full-grown cat was yowling, and the monkey was screeching.
There were others who jumped into this chaos.
“Young Miss! Are you alright?”
“Vivi! Did something happen? Why is it so loud… a cat?”
It was Anne and Jean, who had looked out the window at the noisy commotion and rushed out after spotting Vivian.
Question marks appeared over the faces of the two as they saw the fat cat squawking.
“Dad! There’s a kitten up there that can’t get down. Save it!”
“Oh my, it must be because it’s a baby that it can’t get down! Should I go and bring a long stick?”
Anne was preparing to run, lifting her skirt, but Jean rolled up his sleeves and shook his head.
“No. It’s fine.”
“Pardon?”
It wasn't a height a person could just climb.
Leaving a surprised Anne behind, Jean even took off his shoes and began to climb the tree.
With every blink of an eye, he leaped higher. And with another blink, he was higher still.
“Wow! Dad, you’re so good at climbing trees!”
It was such a fast speed that even Vivian, who had been watching with bated breath, clapped her hands.
“H-how can a person…?”
Anne covered her mouth with her hand in shock.
[Ho. It seems he climbs trees better than a monkey.]
Kiki also marveled from below, and the cat watched the scene with a blank face.
Like someone who had climbed trees his entire life, Jean reached the very top in an instant, reached out his hand, and grabbed the peeping kitten.
“There, there. Look how scared you are.”
Terrified by the unfamiliar touch, the kitten clung to the thin branch with its tiny claws, but it was no match for Jean.
Carefully detaching it and holding it in his arms, Jean descended as quickly as he had climbed.
“There, it’s alright now.”
“Meowww!!”
As soon as Jean set the kitten down in front of it, the mother cat ran over with a loud cry.
The cat, which had snatched its baby by the scruff of its neck to move it far away from the humans, began to lick its baby with great care.
[Hey, you. Are you not even going to thank us?]
Only after Kiki’s scolding did the cat come to its senses and approach them with a meow.
The cat rubbed its body against Jean’s legs to express its gratitude, then vanished in a flash at the sound of the kitten calling for its mother.
“Is that its mother? It must have been very startled.”
“We were very startled, too….”
Jean turned his head at Anne’s dazed muttering.
Anne, Vivian, and Kiki were all looking at him with shocked faces.
Jean laughed sheepishly and scratched his hair.
“W-well, I had some occasions where I had to climb trees.”
“How did such a thing happen….”
“I lived on a deserted island for a few years—”
“Pardon? A deserted island?”
Anne was so surprised she almost jumped. She knew Jean had been away from home for a while, but she didn't know the details, so it was a natural reaction.
“I was shipwrecked and spent a few years there. Since the only things to eat there were fruits hanging from trees or fish… somehow?”
It was a time when he had to climb trees just to survive.
He couldn't even count how many times he had fallen from trees. A few times, he had almost died not from starvation, but from falling the wrong way….
Jean’s tree-climbing skills, honed after surviving all those trials, could truly be considered the best in the country.
“Dad is the best!”
“I-is that so?”
Jean had never thought that being good at climbing trees was something to brag about, but as Vivian looked up at him with such shining eyes, the corners of his mouth rose on their own.
A foolish laugh escaped his lips before he knew it.
“Haha, hahahaha. It’s really nothing, though….”
“You’re so cool!”
“Hahaha!”
Jean laughed like a fool, then suddenly climbed back up the tree. He gave his body momentum and leaped to another tree.
“Wow! Dad, what was that just now? You went ‘whoosh’ and just! You flew!”
He laughed at himself for showing off his tree-climbing skills in front of his young daughter.
But seeing her face, shining and happy, he could endure a moment of embarrassment as much as he liked.
“Does my princess want to try climbing a tree, too?”
“Yes, yes!”
“Here.”
Coming down from the tree, Jean, who had scooped up Vivian with his sturdy arms, skillfully climbed the tree with one hand.
Vivian burst into giggles, looking delighted.
“Princess, hold on tight!”
Giving his body momentum again, he leaped to another tree.
Jean’s tree-climbing show continued for quite a while longer.
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