Dinner was fast food.
Soyo figured all little kids probably loved fast food.
She swapped out the meat patty she didn't want to eat for the vegetables in Chiose's burger—that way she satisfied the other's wish to eat nothing but meat, fulfilled her own craving to eat nothing but vegetables, and racked up a wave of affection points all at the same time.
Mm, three birds with one stone. Pure profit.
On the drive home, just picturing Chiose taking tiny little nibbles out of that burger nearly as big as her face, Soyo couldn't help but laugh out loud.
So adorable...
I'd really love to keep one.
What? This one's already mine?
Well, never mind then.
"Are you having fun? With the food, I mean."
"Lots of fun!"
There was still a little sesame seed stuck to Chiose's face; while waiting at the red light, Soyo reached over and plucked it off without a second thought.
It let Soyo experience what it felt like to be a mother.. how curious.
Back home, Soyo instinctively went to start working, but the moment she opened her computer she remembered she'd already handed off all her tasks to others.
She stared blankly at the emotionless computer screen, and a strange illusion suddenly welled up in her heart.
As though her life lost so much the instant work was taken from it.. just who was it that had turned her into this? Was it herself, or was it this world?
[Find something to do...]
So aside from working and drinking tea, what else did she even do?
If it were the Soyo of old, she'd still read shōjo manga.. that was back at the very start of high school, when Soyo had a stretch of holing up at home, so bored she chose to go read those shōjo manga.
It was just that she was such a big girl now—wasn't fighting a little kid over manga maybe a bit too childish?
Little Chiose had been trailing along behind Soyo this whole time, and now stood right beside her, wordlessly deploying the [Fixated Stare] skill.
"All right, all right, I surrender—what are you staring at me for?"
"Teddy bear..."
"Oh, right, I'm supposed to help you wash it.. are you sure you want it washed? If we wash it today it won't dry until tomorrow, you know? That means you won't have anything to hug tonight."
Soyo felt this exchange was awfully familiar... when she was small and asked her own mother to help wash the teddy bear that belonged to her, her mother seemed to have asked her the very same thing.
It had been a rainy day, her mother only just home; the house gave off a musty, moldy smell amid the downpour. That day her father had been out entertaining clients until very late and hadn't come home, and by the time her mother got back it was nearly nine at night.
But Mama still helped her wash the teddy bear.. honestly, here I go reminiscing again.
"Mm-hmm!"
Ruffling her daughter's little head once again, the warm, toasty sensation set Soyo's heart pounding strangely.
Honestly, she really is so alike—practically an exact replica of myself.
As she climbed the stairs, Soyo felt as though she were walking up a great river flowing backward against the current; the further forward she went, the more she recalled of her past with her mother.
Those memories she'd assumed had long since been forgotten had never truly vanished after all—they slowly surfaced into Soyo's mind.
"Haah.. do people all love dwelling on the past once they get old?"
She was only just past thirty—could it be that being so consumed by work had burned out her life force?
The third floor's terrace entrance faced directly onto the top of the stairs; it looked like only a few steps, yet Soyo felt she'd walked a very long way.
Her knees were old too.
"Phew.."
She really ought to consider moving back into a single-level flat—fewer stairs there.
Just thinking of the brisk pitter-patter of Chiose scampering up the stairs, Soyo couldn't help but sigh in earnest that time had utterly abandoned her.
Pushing the door open, stepping up over the threshold, walking to the washing machine—the floor-to-ceiling glass windows all around scattered the afternoon's last gentle warmth over Soyo.
Soon she'd have to start fretting over what to eat tomorrow. There aren't many things a person gets to choose in life, and what to eat is one of them.
Opening the washing machine, Soyo caught sight of Chiose's little bear; smiling, she narrowed her eyes and lifted it out.
"It's actually quite clean, yet you wanted it washed. Besides, how could a little toy like this ever be put in the washing machine?"
The toy bear she'd had as a child was exactly what her mother had ruined by tossing it into the washing machine and scrubbing it—haha, she'd cried so miserably back then.
Soyo fetched a clean basin and drew a bit of water, intending to scrub it by hand herself. Chiose was so lucky—to actually have a mother who'd hand-wash a doll for her.
The toy bear's fur wasn't very smooth; it had a sensation of being very old yet often sunned. As Soyo's hands met the little bear in the cool water, she suddenly felt something on its back...
"Hm?"
What was this?
With the help of the daylight, Soyo narrowed her eyes and discovered there was a seam on the bear's back. No—not just one, but many stitched-up seams.
This was... a teddy bear that had originally been torn open and afterward sewn back up?
"Tsk."
The unease in Soyo's heart began to spread. She turned the teddy bear over, gazing into its eyes—black as black pearls—and a strange thought suddenly took shape in her mind.
[This seems... like that one of mine?]
If it really was hers, then near its foot.. no, at the waistline, there should be the remnants of a silk-woven label that hadn't been trimmed off cleanly...
No way, there couldn't really be one, could there...
Soyo fell silent, but her hands didn't pause; she searched again and again—and thankfully, she didn't see it.
"Haha, see, I told you—how could it possibly be that one of mine."
Soyo seemed to breathe a sigh of relief and went on washing the toy bear for her cheap little daughter. But when she finished, she noticed the sole of the bear's foot seemed to have a few more stitches sealed up.
She flipped the teddy bear upside down, and the lettering that met her eyes wiped the smile right off her face.
[SOYO]
Who... sewed this on?
It couldn't possibly be a coincidence.
She hurriedly went on examining the teddy bear's waist, and sure enough, she found the clue.
Though there really was no remnant of a label to be found in that spot, that patch of relatively sparse fur seemed to prove something all the same.
"....."
Mama gave the toy from my childhood... to Chiose?
Why has this toy that wasn't supposed to exist come back. and no longer belongs to me—just like my mother's love.
Mother never once kept me company, yet she keeps Chiose company. Could it be she wanted to compensate me in some roundabout way?
[But I, I still haven't felt my mother's care at all...]
Soyo's expression was turning cold. Even though she knew she was just overthinking it, the moment she saw that this thing that had once belonged to her, and the motherly love that had once belonged to her, had both been snatched away by Nagasaki Chiose, she inexplicably felt a pang of heartache.
It's my toy bear, after all—how could it be given to someone else.… so cruel. Though.. it's not really that cruel either.
I'm such a grown woman now, and yet I'm still sulking—it really must be the stress getting to be too much, isn't it.
"Haah... to have a thought like this, honestly.."
The teddy bear had been hung on the clothes rack. When Soyo turned around, she realized Chiose was huddled trembling in the corner.
Chiose only took one glance at Soyo before fleeing, giving Soyo no chance to react at all.
"Eh? Don't go..."
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