If you don't want to eat, then go hungry.
What kind of guardian would say something like that?
After saying it, Soyo felt a pang of regret—there really had been no need to put it so harshly.
But the words were already out, and it wasn't easy to take them back...
Nagasaki Soyo forced herself to stop paying attention to the child sitting across from her and focused single-mindedly on eating.
The child seemed frightened by her tone—Soyo could feel the other trembling.
Hm? Trembling?
When Nagasaki Soyo lifted her head, what met her eyes was Chiose, the corners of her eyes flushed red.
She really was such a good girl.
Even when she cried, she made no sound.
"Honestly, what's there to cry about? Didn't your grandmother teach you not to be a picky eater?"
"I... I'm sorry..."
"Stop saying sorry over and over—you're making it sound like I'm abusing you."
How troublesome. Honestly, I'm completely unsuited to looking after a child.
"I'm sorry..."
"Ugh, forget it, just hurry up and eat. I'm going to get back to work."
Clinging to the idea of "out of sight, out of mind"... Soyo chose to run away.
This way of doing things reminded her of someone she'd once known, but she didn't want to recall exactly who that person was.
Her steps were light, and in just a few strides she had fled the first floor and returned to the study on the second.
The door was locked, and now the room was her safe space—
"No! How can I do this..."
Soyo didn't dare to imagine what Chiose looked like down on the first floor...
Because she felt that the moment she did, she would remember that Ichinose Soyo who used to sit at the dining table doing her homework, waiting for her mother to come home.
After much hesitation, Soyo still chose to go back downstairs. She knew she wasn't Sakiko Togawa—she couldn't run away from everything...
The lighting in the house wasn't very good; living alone, one didn't need such bright illumination. Soyo's palm touched the banister and felt its coldness, while in her mind she was thinking of a certain runaway keyboardist.
Sakiko Togawa, that runaway girl, who at the age of fifteen had suddenly dashed into and back out of her life.
She was running from herself, and she was just as irresponsible.
Sakiko was just like her mother... just as irresponsible.
The most suffocating thing was the back-and-forth of being moved by her mother and resenting her. While Soyo was grateful to her mother, she also harbored small discontents.
But her mother was already in the hospital, and Sakiko had long since vanished. These two not-so-responsible people would never appear in her world again.
"Hm?"
She had only gone upstairs for a few minutes before coming back down, yet Soyo no longer saw Chiose in the living room.
That bowl of barely-touched vegetable macaroni still sat quietly on the table, gazing at Soyo.
"Chiose? Chiose! Where did you run off to this time?"
How could this child keep running around like this?
Soyo tentatively walked toward the cloakroom again, and sure enough, she heard the sound of crying once more.
"Chiose? It's Mama. Stop crying, okay?"
The other was a child who had lost the grandmother who'd always cared for her, and after coming home had been subjected to Soyo's... cold treatment. It was only normal that she would cry.
But Soyo truly didn't know how to show concern or care for another person.
Though there was only a thin wardrobe door between them, Soyo clearly understood that there was actually another, invisible door standing there.
Ever since she was little, each time she lost a "home," another lock was added to the door of Soyo's heart.
Facing these locks, there had once been a person named Sakiko Togawa who tried to undo them—
But in the end, that girl turned around and added yet another new lock to Soyo's heart.
The more she experienced, the more locks there were. The truth was, Soyo wanted to treat this child gently too, but she really didn't know how to love someone.
Soyo gently pulled the door open, and as the light spilled into the wardrobe, in the same scene as before, Soyo saw Chiose hiding in the wardrobe and crying for the second time.
"Do you really like wardrobes that much?"
"Uu... mhm."
Trembling and with tears streaming down her face, Chiose still nodded her head in response to Soyo.
Crying so pitifully... but only Chiose herself knew that she was acting.
The performance was a little too convincing, so much so that Soyo actually believed it. How unfortunate.
Soyo didn't know what the little girl before her was thinking; she didn't even dare to look directly into the other's eyes.
After holding it in for a long while, she finally came up with a line that could serve as a conversation opener.
She lowered her voice and said:
"Um... are you full? If you're not, I'll make you something more. Is there anything you'd like to eat?"
"I don't know... anything's fine for me..."
"Ugh... how about I make you some congee? Other than congee, all that's left in the house are vegetables, but you seem to really dislike eating vegetables."
"Meat!"
The moment the topic turned to something slightly warmer, Chiose's tears stopped flowing, which eased Soyo's mood considerably.
It seemed this child was, after all, a little bit cute.
She didn't dare to look at Chiose too long, because Soyo knew the other was actually super cute.
"Let's skip the meat and all that. I don't like eating it. I'm off—I'll go make you congee... haa."
It looked like work wasn't going to get done tonight. Hopefully she could clear it all in one go tomorrow.
Soyo found the ingredients she needed; she was nothing if not skilled in the kitchen.
All those years of staying home had helped Soyo develop excellent cooking skills—though before this, she had been the only one to enjoy them.
The process of cooking congee was a long one—long enough that the little girl disappeared again.
Soyo didn't think much of it at first, assuming the other had gone off to play. But when she stood in the middle of the living room holding the freshly made congee and called out, getting no reply, she finally sensed something was wrong.
"Chiose? Chiose? Where are you? It's time to eat."
She got no response—this time there wasn't even the faintest sound of crying.
Soyo walked toward the wardrobe with a frown. This time the wardrobe door wasn't even shut; the moment she stepped into the room she could see Chiose hiding inside.
"Come on, it's time to eat. Hm? Did you fall asleep?"
This child... she finished cooking and yet she still fell asleep?
Tsk, tsk.
Soyo didn't overthink it and easily scooped the little one up.
It looked like the other wouldn't wake again tonight, sleeping as soundly as a little piglet.
Oh well... the congee could still be eaten tomorrow, and tomorrow she wouldn't have to worry about what to feed Chiose either.
After Nagasaki Soyo carried Chiose back to her bedroom on the third floor, she went to handle her work. She was very efficient, finishing everything before ten o'clock.
"Phew... the workload from here on will be greatly reduced. Everything is... getting back on track too."
Soyo had a habit of going to bed early and never staying up late—she was a staunch believer in not pulling all-nighters.
Standing before the washstand on the third floor, she peeled off her face mask, beautifully completing all her pre-sleep skincare—
Time to rest. There was still a little child waiting for her in bed.
Lifting the covers, she found that the cold, wide bed had already been warmed.
Soyo gathered Chiose into her arms; the other was warm as a little sun.
"Troublesome as she is, she really is cute."
"I'm sorry about today. I'm a bit out of practice when it comes to taking care of someone."
Before falling asleep, Soyo silently apologized to Chiose in her heart.
As for why she didn't just say it out loud?
That was because she was too embarrassed.
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