Chapter 17: My Father’s Two Options

Dad told me I had two choices: live on as Kisaragi Ikuto, or live as a completely different person.

“If those are the options, I think I’d rather keep living as Ikuto…”

But my father wouldn’t pose the question like that without a reason. The very fact that there's a viable alternative to living as Ikuto means there has to be some merit to it. Or maybe…

“What’s the downside of living as Ikuto?”

Satisfied with my response, Dad continued.

“If you choose to live as Ikuto, you’ll need to make the existence of the other world and magic public knowledge. Do you know why that is?”

“Because even if I claim to be Ikuto, nobody would believe me, right? Sure, family might, but there’s not a single piece of objective evidence proving that I’m the same Ikuto.”

“Exactly. If you can prove the existence of magic and the other world—something that overturns all common sense—then maybe, just maybe, you can reclaim your identity as Ikuto.”

“If we’re spreading it, I’ll make sure it goes viral on video sites and social media!”

“—But if you do that, you’ll lose your normal life.”

“...You mean I’ll become famous? No way, someone in the family becoming a celebrity!?”

“You’ll almost certainly become famous. After all, magic is a concept that could shake the very foundations of humanity. If someone were to successfully analyze it, your name would definitely go down in human history.”

“...So basically?”

“You’d be a glorified lab rat. Sure, your livelihood and income would be guaranteed, but in practice, your position wouldn’t be much different from that of an experimental animal. You’d live your days completely cut off from society, under constant observation.”

That answer was so far from what she’d imagined that Yuna went pale.

Well, I can’t blame her. I just accepted it as reality.

“That’s... awful…”

“There’s no other choice. Even if you somehow managed to escape the facility, your body would become a global target. That’s how valuable magic is.”

Hah… seriously?

“...Not exactly a future to get excited about.”

“To add one more thing—earthlings don’t have magic. But there will definitely be those who wonder: what about children born between earthlings and people from the other world? I’ll leave it to your imagination what that could lead to.”

“...So basically, it’s safer to give up on living as Ikuto.”

“If you were prepared to sacrifice yourself for the evolution of mankind, maybe I’d consider it worth discussing.”

“Then… can I hear about the other option?”

“You’ll live as a completely different person. For example, let’s say there’s a family we were close to overseas. The parents passed away, and we took in their orphaned daughter. That’s the sort of backstory we’ll give you. Then we’ll arrange for you to have a new family register in Japan.”

“You can actually do something like that?”

“I’ve built up some decent connections overseas. I can prepare a legitimate background that’ll hold up even under government scrutiny. Leave the fine-tuning to me.”

…Honestly, even though he’s my dad, he really goes all out.

“Sorry, but on paper, we’ll have to register as adoptive parent and child—though technically, I could set it up so that we’re biologically related…”

That would be like having Dad officially adopt a child he fathered with someone overseas. That way, I’d legally be his child, but it would also mean admitting to having had an affair and fathering a child abroad—a stain on his reputation.

And as a father with a child my age, he’s still crazy in love with Mom to a borderline embarrassing degree.

“If the alternative is having strangers speculate about fake marital problems, I’m fine with being listed as adopted.”

“No matter what it says on paper, you’ll always be our real child. That won’t change… I want you to remember that.”

“Yeah. I know… Thanks, Dad.”

“When you return to Japan, go back to school. Find your path while you’re at it.”

To think I can go to school again… I’d half given up on that, so honestly, I’m really happy.

“That about sums it up. Ikuto, what do you think?”

“You’ve put this much thought into it. I’m not going to argue. I’ll go with your plan, Dad.”

“...Anyone else have an opinion?”

“Papa, what school is big bro going to go to?”

“Hirayama High is the top candidate. It’s the school Ikuto went to for a while, and Yuna’s already there, so she can help out. If we manage to get him enrolled, I’ll push to have him placed in the same class as Yuna.”

“The same class!? But I’d be in second year…”

“Your new family registry is going to be created anyway. No point sticking to your actual age. Besides, do you really think you can catch up on an entire year’s worth of second-year classes?”

I was at a loss for words. Skipping the entire first year of high school and starting from the second year felt like it would be pretty tough.

On top of that, the second semester of sophomore year is when you’ve really got to start thinking about college entrance exams.

“By the way, the runner-up option is to start over from the third year of middle school.”

“Th-That’s a bit much…”

Honestly, please spare me. With my mental age being sixteen, going back to middle school now would be way too painful. Sure, appearance-wise, I could probably still pass for a first-year middle schooler, but…

“Being in the same class as Onii-chan… fufu, sounds like so much fun!”

Yuna was in an unusually good mood.

“…Alright. I’ll go to Hirayama High—Hirakou—with Yuna.”

Re-enrolling at Hirayama High and repeating the first year. All things considered, that seemed like the most practical option. As her older brother, being in the same class as my little sister was… well, setting aside how I felt about it emotionally, it was reassuring to have someone who understood my situation.

“Then, we’ll go with your birthday being February 10th, one year later than before, alright?”

…Not alright at all.

“Objection. That would make it so Yuna was born before me… Can’t we just push it back by two months or something?”

My birthday is February 10th, and Yuna’s is February 8th of the following year, so there’s less than a year between us. But if we shift my birthday by a whole year, the birth order gets reversed. As her older brother, I absolutely couldn’t allow that.

My plea was swiftly shot down by Mom.

“February 10th is the precious day I gave birth to you. It’s also the day your name is tied to. That’s why I don’t want your birthday changed.”

When she said that, I couldn’t come up with a single word of protest.

I already feel guilty enough about being a bad son.

“You’re being stubborn, Onii-chan. Just give in and become my little sister already!”

At this point, preventing my sister’s coup d'état seemed hopeless.

“…Fine.”

I hung my head in resignation.

“It’s okay! Leave it to your big sister! I won’t lead you astray.”

Now officially set to become my older sister in the public record, Yuna proudly thumped her chest in assurance.

“Alright, next up is deciding on a name. Since you’re being adopted, you’ll keep the Kisaragi surname. But we’ll need a new given name.”

“Hey, Papa. Can’t I just stay as Alicia?”

“If we call you Alicia when there are multiple Alicias around, it’ll get confusing, don’t you think?”

“Hmm… I guess that’s true. So, you want it to sound foreign, right?”

“Even if we say it’s a name change, a Japanese name would be fine… but looking at your current appearance, a typical Japanese name would feel out of place.”

“In that case, maybe a name that works in both Japanese and foreign contexts would be best? Like Maria, or Sena?”

“That might be a good idea. What other names are there?”

And so, the family began tossing around various suggestions.

By the way, we quickly gave up on trying to keep anything resembling the sound of ‘Ikuto’. Ideas like Iku, Iktia, and Iknathos came up, but none of them felt quite right.

Besides, there was no reason to let others know that I was Ikuto. As long as my magic didn’t get exposed, there wouldn’t be any trouble. There was no need to take unnecessary risks.

“Hmmm… this is tough.”

As the family continued tossing around name ideas, none of them really stood out.

Just when it seemed like we might put the name discussion on hold for now—

“Alicia, do you have any ideas?”
Yuna directed the question toward Alicia.

『I’m not very familiar with names from around here, so…』

“It’s fine—even just throwing out a suggestion helps. We can judge the sound on our end.”

I added that to encourage her, and after a moment’s hesitation, Alicia finally spoke up.

『How about… Alice?』

“That’s a great idea!”

Yuna was the first to react to Alicia’s suggestion, followed by agreement from the rest of the family.

“Yes, Alice is a name you sometimes hear even among Japanese people. I don’t think it would feel out of place if someone called out to you on the street.”

“Hmm… Alice in Wonderland, huh? For someone like Ikuto, who had a body-transforming experience in another world, it’s a name full of clever symbolism. I think it fits well.”

“And it still keeps the sound of ‘Alicia’!”

Yuna again. Now that she mentioned it, that was true.

『Ah, no, I didn’t mean it that way…』

Alicia hastily denied it, flustered, but honestly, I was happy the new name retained a bit of Alicia’s sound.

“Alice…”

I tried saying it aloud. …Somehow, it felt right.

“Alright, it’s settled! I’ll go with Alice!”

I made the declaration.

『Kisaragi Alice』—that became my new name.

I considered writing it in kanji, but every option felt a bit too pretentious, so I ultimately decided on katakana.