BUTTERFLY | Prologue
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This story is not JP proofread. Unproofread translations are under much stricter terms of service. While these translations are as accurate as I can personally make them, I am not comfortable with and do not permit use of the following:
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I would love to get this story properly proofread and posted one day! If you are a translator interested in JP proofreading this story, feel free to DM me at @citrinesea on X.
Prologue
Hm. He’s sleeping nice and soundly.
That’s my dear younger brother alright, truly adorable. I never grow tired of looking at him, not even for a single day.
(I think there’s a word in the dictionary to describe a kid like this, right?)
(... That’s right. “A jewel of a child”. It means he is as beautiful as a gemstone, right?)
(Yes. That’s exactly the right word to describe my baby brother ♪)
(He’s so cute it makes me really want to pet him, but all that would do is interrupt his afternoon nap.)
Huh? He woke up?
!? What’s the matter? He started crying all of a sudden…!
What should I do at a time like this…!?
(Is it his diaper? Or maybe he’s hungry? Ummm, then…!)
Ah, Mother! He started crying all of a sudden!
(Hm. Mother pulled him into her arms to soothe him.)
(Just watching, it seems that it wasn’t his diaper. Then, if it wasn’t that, was it that he was hungry after all?)
(Mother probably thought the same thing. She’s already setting things up. As expected ♪)
…
(It doesn’t seem like there’s anything I can do.)
(As an older brother, it is my duty to protect my little brother by setting a good example and leading him down the right way.)
(But in the end, all I did was wake him up. What kind of big brother does that make me?)
(... Ever since he was born, Mother seems to be busier than ever.)
(I wish I could have been of some help...)
(I’m just not strong enough, and I don’t have enough wisdom yet either.)
… No. I will be the one to bear the weight of the Kanzaki family someday. I don’t have the free time to sit around and mope all day!
(I must become a fine young man who is no trouble to anyone!)
Because a samurai’s existence is to go to war to protect the weak!
As a big brother, I need to focus even more on… Hm?
This tree… There’s some kind of weird thing sticking to it.
Thinking about it, is this a butterfly’s chrysalis? And what’s more, it’s in the middle of emerging from it right now.
I am quite lucky to get to see this moment ♪
(A butterfly’s emergence. … I knew about them from a book I read, but it really is such a wondrous sight to behold, hm.)
(The caterpillar that worked hard eating leaves changes form in its chrysalis. The butterfly is nothing like the way it was once before. It takes off into the sky with its wings.)
(... I wonder where this butterfly will go from here?)
(Before it changes its form, is there some kind of place it wants to go?)
(Or, maybe the goal is to become a butterfly. And then maybe after that, it just has the freedom to go fly about.)
(I wonder where it wants to go?)
(One day soon, I’ll be just like this butterfly too…)
Nnnh…
Is it morning already? Hm, just a second ago…
(Heheh, I had some sort of sentimental dream. That had to have been when my younger brother was just born. right?)
(Back then, my mother had spent all her time and energy calming down my little brother, and would manage to quell the fits into peace.)
(I was aware of my shortcomings and inexperience, so I spent every waking moment of the day, every day, training and pursuing more knowledge.)
(Looking back on it, that might have also been a way to cope with the loneliness, when my parents spent less time and attention on me.)
(... Come to think of it, I have not been back home in quite some time.)
(I do not really contact and get in touch with my brother or mother all that often either. Maybe I should go for a long-overdue visit back home.)
(Hmm. Well, I am already awake. I may as well go train and get some practice swings in.)
(Sengoku and Suou are… It seems they are still fast asleep. I shall try not to make too much noise and—)
(…?)
(I thought I heard some kind of voice just now?)