"And that's when Cinderella decided that she wasn't going to wait anymore for someone else to come save her. It was time to take her own fate into her hands. So what if she had to move out of her home? Her freedom was worth it," Kaori read to her one-year-old daughter, laying on her bed with Kanako's head resting on her shoulder.
Takashi, from his side of the bed, tried not to laugh as he read some paperwork. The story was part of a collection of feminist retellings of traditional fairy tales that Kaori had written during the last month of her pregnancy and her maternity leave. He still recalled the furious call she'd given him at work when she'd been browsing online for storybooks to buy for their daughter while on bed rest and found only "stories of bland women with no spirit and independence, Takashi! I will not have our daughter grow up on these silly tales and think she needs to find a Prince Charming to carry her off into the sunset! This is not an appropriate lesson for a daughter of the Nakamura family to learn!"
He'd refrained from pointing out that technically, Kanako was a daughter of the Morinozuka family since that would only have irritated his heavily pregnant wife more, and anyway, he did agree that his daughter shouldn't grow up thinking that she needed men to save her. Instead, he'd suggested that she work on a project to write some decent stories for their daughter while she was resting at home, since she was getting bored being away from the office anyway. It was almost by accident that the collection of stories became a hit – Kaori had shared some of her work with Reiko and Haruhi, and both of them had loved it, and immediately started working on finding a publisher.
"And that's the story of how Cinderella left her abusive home and got a job so she could support herself!" Takashi was jolted out of his reminiscing by Kaori finishing her story, and Kanako clapping her hands excitedly.
"Support herself," she burbled. She'd been starting to talk more, and it was to Kaori's unadulterated delight that together with normal words like 'mommy', 'daddy', and animal names, she was starting to say more complex words. She hadn't quite mastered 'patriarchy' yet, but Kaori remained hopeful that it was coming any day now.
"Kanako-chan, welcome to the dojo," Mitsukuni said solemnly, kneeling on the ground in front of three-year-old Hiroaki and barely-two-year-old Kanako. It was her first day learning martial arts, and he'd promised her worried parents that he would take good care of her.
"Please take care of me," she said in her adorable high-pitched voice, bowing low with her forehead almost touching the mat, just the way her daddy had taught her to.
(Mitsukuni almost couldn't maintain his stoic demeanor when he saw how cute she was. The flowers almost reappeared around his head.)
"Yeah, yeah… why does a girl need to learn martial arts anyway? She should be learning to cook or manage a household!" Hiroaki scoffed.
Mitsukuni scowled at his son and got up, intending to discipline him. (It wasn't just that it was unacceptable for Hiroaki to hold these views. If Reiko found out that her son was saying these things, or worse yet, if Kaori found out that he'd said something like that to her daughter, there would be hell to pay. He wasn't even sure he would be able to protect his son from the wrath of the two women.)
Before he could even say anything, though, Kanako had gotten up and stood in front of him, her hands on her hips. "That's a very sexist statement to make!" she yelled. "Why don't you learn to respect women!"
"Hiroaki! Who taught you to say these things!" Mitsukuni interjected before the little girl worked herself into the tirade he was sure was coming, if her mother was any indication.
He blinked up at his father innocently as he rattled off an almost complete list of the elderly relatives who'd been looking after him for the past year or so. "They all said that Kana-chan shouldn't be training in martial arts because no man would want to marry her in the future!" he concluded happily, oblivious to the panic currently swamping his father.
"Oh God, this is bad…" Mitsukuni thought to himself. If Reiko found out that the elderly Haninozukas were, in fact, doing what she had predicted they would do when he told her he thought his son should be taken care of by their family members, he would never hear the end of it.
He laughed uneasily, trying not to show Hiroaki how perturbed he was. "Well, that's not right, okay? We shouldn't think things like that about girls, it's not kind! Girls can do anything boys can do, you know? Haruhi-obasan was a host together with all your ojisans, remember?"
Hiroaki looked thoughtful for a moment, then looked over at Kanako. The two of them were good friends, despite the age gap, and he had never known her to be weaker than him from their interactions. "You're right, papa! Sorry, Kanako-chan!" he said, as he got up and embraced the smaller girl.
"It's okay, Hiro-chan!" she exclaimed as she hugged him back.
Mitsukuni melted as he took in the adorable sight in front of him, flowers floating about his head again. If only he could tell this to his wife without telling her what had transpired. He blanched again as he thought about the hell that would follow if she or Kaori ever found out about this little episode. Now, how to make sure the children never told their mothers about this incident…?
Couldn't get it out of my mind... I guess this is how I destress from finals cramming? (God help me).
As always, I'd love to hear what you think!