Monday arrives and I can finally reunite with my cute little daughter. After putting down my backpack and turning on the air conditioner, I immediately grab the remote to boot Lily on.

“...”

Lily silently rises into a sitting posture. Then, she slides from the bed and jumps onto the floor.

“...”

She looks at me in silence, then scans the room with an odd expression that conveys unfamiliarity.

Huh...? Shouldn’t she be greeting me with some deredere behaviour? That’s what she has been doing before...

After looking around the room, she turns her attention to me.

“... is something wrong?”

“Are you my papa?”

She tilts her head and asks with a blank expression.

“... huh?”

What...?

I...

Is this some sort of prank? Is this revenge for not playing with her for two days?

T-this is some cute prank...

“Of course I am!”

I try to smile as I lean toward the small-framed girl.

“...”

She scans me with dead eyes, without saying a word. I-it’s a prank, right? Just a childish, innocent tsuntsun prank... right?

Once she stops pretending, I-I’m reporting this as a bug! This sort of behaviour is really creepy and off putting, even if for a joke.

She finishes scanning me and crosses her small arms.

“Hmph. Just because you are my papa, don’t think I like you or anything.”

“W-wha...”

This sounds incredibly familiar, exactly like the first time she was booted and met me as her dad.

Haha, what a funny coincidence. This is one really cruel joke, replicating the same exact scene and quoting the same words... haha.

“You can stop now.”

I pat my mischievous daughter on the head.

“Huh? Stop what?”

She exhibits discomfort upon being touched and tilts her head with a puzzled expression.

“C’mon, stop acting as if you don’t know me, Lily.”

“...”

She turns to the left, then to the right. There’s nobody else, so she turns bac to me.

“Hmph, did you already forget the name of your own daughter? My name is Vicky!”

“Not it’s not.”

I grab her remote and look at the digital plate on its back.

“Your name is definitely... definitely... ah........... Vicky?”

BAM

The remote slides from my hand and crushes into the floor.

“Who... who the heck are you...?”

“Huh? I’m your daughter, of course! Hmph!”

She answers in irritation.

But it’s a lie.

No matter how similar her appearance is - my daughter is Lily. This girl didn’t even recognize me until a second ago.

“Just, what...?”

I check around the room for clues about the situation.

Maybe they brought in another model? Yeah, that’d explain everything.

Another Tsundere girl in addition to Lily. Does this make me a father of two cute girls? Of tsundere twins? Haha, that’s awesome!

Haha...

Yeah..

That’d... that’d really be... something...

I cross the room from corner to corner, desperately seeking Lily’s whereabouts.

They must have relocated her somewhere to bring Vicky in. Surely, that’s what they did... right?

“... ugh.”

She’s gone. There’s not a trace of my daughter in this room.

“Papa?”

The fake girl calls out to me with a weak voice. I turn to her and see her fidgeting, as if trying to win my sympathy.

“Are you alright? You are making a scary face... n-not that I care or anything, hmph...”

“You... what are you doing here?”

“Eh? W-what do you mean? Didn’t papa bring me here...?”

“Ugh...”

Of course this stupid girl wouldn’t know.

Provided the situation, I can only conclude that... Lily was kidnapped! Someone must have taken her away, replacing her with this identical twin.

Are they really allowed to do something this heartless? Separating a father from his daughter?!

“Right, Eric...!”

That guy should be able to explain the circumstances!

I dart toward the door and desperately sprint across the corridor.