Moreover, Muryōtō Ryūsuke did not seem inclined to deny the way Himeko addressed him.
"We're here. This is the place."
She had no idea how long they had walked—probably no more than twenty minutes—before they finally stopped in a residential area.
Looking at the house in front of her, it was not the mansion Himeko had imagined, but it was far from shabby. It covered roughly 115 square meters, had two stories, and came with a small courtyard of around twenty square meters.
Several cherry trees had been planted in front of the courtyard, though they were still bare at the moment. It looked like they would need another two or three months before they bloomed.
Muryōtō Ryūsuke took out his key, opened the gate, and led Himeko inside.
When they reached the floor by the house steps, Muryōtō Ryūsuke changed out of his shoes and took out a pair that clearly belonged to a young girl, placing them before Himeko.
"These are my daughter's shoes. Wear them for now. I'll go to the supermarket nearby and buy you a new pair later."
"Thank you!"
Himeko showed no reluctance at all. These were the shoes of her younger self—what was wrong with wearing them? She crouched down, took off her own shoes, and slipped into Little Himeko's slippers.
Seeing what Himeko did, Muryōtō Ryūsuke smiled, opened the door, and called softly into the room, "I'm home!"
"Welcome home, Father."
At Muryōtō Ryūsuke's call, the sound of footsteps came from inside the house, followed by a young girl's voice completely unlike Himeko's.
The next moment, Himeko watched her teenage self come to greet them.
Little Himeko and Teacher Himeko were actually quite different in many ways. The younger Little Himeko was exceptionally cute, with long red hair falling loose around