“Good morning.”

I wake Lily up and greet her with a pat on the head. She quickly rises and slides from the bed.

“Papa!

She smiles cutely while looking at me, then immediately turns cold.

“Hmph, not like I wanted you to come or anything.”

Yeah, I love you too, you cute little critter.

Based on my experience from previous days, Eric will drop by the office when he feels like it; I don’t need to search for him. Sadly, that means I can’t freely pull out the Lego right away, for I don’t know when he might pop up.

Instead, I sit on the sofa and play the “simpler” games with her.

Her mastery of word chain hasn’t rusted at all. In fact, I feel like she’s still becoming better and better every time we play. Without cheating - I no longer have any chance of beating her.

“Yes! I beat you again!”

She grins with confidence and stretches her small hands in excitement.

This scene never gets old. She easily gets irritated by losing, but then her mood makes a huge comeback when celebrating a victory.

... is she really happy, though? Amy’s words from yesterday still haunt me.

Word chain began as an experiment which was difficult for Lily, but now she is incredibly proficient in it. She might have disliked it at first, but now she probably sincerely enjoys it.

But what about Lego? Even after a whole day of using the bricks she still can’t grasp the core aspects of it.

Is it possible that she... hates it?

“Say, is there anything you want to do?”

“Hm?”

She tilts her head with a charming smile, still in a good mood from the three victories she scored in a row.

“Is there any game you want to play, or some activity you want to do? Stuff like that.”

“I want to do whatever makes papa happy...”

She mumbles quietly while lowering her head.

“N-not that I really care about you or anything, hmph!”

She crosses her small arms and looks away.

“Whatever makes papa happy” is an answer which I was more or less expecting.

Yet, I wonder...

Her answer straightforwardly stems from “loving papa”. If I were to raise her Tsundere meter all the way up to 5, to the coldest point of her personality, would her answer change?

Perhaps this way I’ll be able to get a personal answer out of her.

I pick up the remote.

This feels... wrong. Again.

Altering her into extreme deredere was wrong, so turning her into full throttle tsuntsun is an equally harsh sin.

CLICK

I clench fists and brace myself for whatever will follow.

“...”

Lily freezes for a couple of seconds, re-configuring her parameters.

I gulp as I expect horror. Shivers start dancing on my skin in anticipation.

“Ah.”

She breaks out of the daze and slowly raises her head. She looks at me with cold eyes for a few moments, then crosses her arms and shrugs.

Her eyes dagger me with sharp coldness and rejection. T-this sure is unpleasant, having my own daughter eye me like this...

“S-so, are you sure there’s nothing specific you want to do?”

“Hmph, I can do anything I want. If papa begs me like an obedient dog, I might as well do something you want.”

“E-eh?”

D-did she just call me a dog? That cute little Lily did!?

This sure is an extreme mode. While insults are rather common for tsundere characters, I didn’t expect Lily to embrace this bad habit.

This demeanor is freaking me out a little bit.

“B-but for example, aren’t some games a little hard for you? Like the Lego...”

“Huh? Are you an idiot?”

“E-eh?!”

She pierces me with a ridiculing expression, effectively looking down on me.

Grrr, she’s such a cheeky brat that I want to pinch the heck out of her cute cheeks, until she becomes deredere and cutely cries into my chest.

“If the game is hard, then it’s all the more worthwhile to master it.”

She continues with a snobby posture.

“It feels a lot better when I can crush others in the same game they taught me.”

She smirks with a sharp glint in her eyes.

“I... I see.”

When I think about it, the answer perfectly explains Lily’s changing attitude when she plays with me.

When she loses - she gets irritated. When she loses again - she gets even more irritated. However, the more irritated she is after losing - the happier she is when she wins.

I didn’t pay much heed to it, but this pattern may expand beyond the scope of playing. It’s not just about “winning after losing a lot”; it’s the general concept of “overcoming a difficult challenge.”

The more I challenge her - the happier she looks when she clears the challenge. This is unquestionably how the perfect kid should be: unafraid of challenge.

She channels her frustrations from failure into the eventual delight of success; her mindset is completely different from Amy’s. My sister was a lazy and pampered kid who’d give up at the slightest sign of discomfort.

Compared to her - Lily is amazing. Awesome. Perfect.

“You are really something else.”

I pat her golden hair.

“Huh? Who said you can touch me?”

Her head dodges my reach.

Geh, better switch her back to level 3. The icy Lily was undoubtedly useful for this occasion, but I prefer to play with the balanced, REAL Lily.

CLICK

“...”

Lily freezes for a couple of seconds and I use the opportunity to pat her head.

“W-what are you doing?”

She blushes and fidgets uncomfortably as I continue to stroke her beautiful hair.

Pretending to reject me, while cutely feeling embarrassed, is how my daughter should be.