Someone was fast asleep.
Someone was holding their daughter, savoring the quiet of the night, and incidentally reminiscing about their own unfortunate yet not particularly dull life.
And still someone else... was working overtime.
On the top floor of the Nagasaki Group, inside Nagasaki Soyo's office.
"Why is there still work to do?! Aaaaaah!"
The white-haired, golden-eyed adult woman planted her hands on her hips, secretly clicking her tongue as she stared at the mountain of documents and all sorts of miscellaneous odds and ends piled up before her.
Poor The System—once again she'd been tossed over here by Chiose to do grunt work.
And the reason given was one she truly couldn't refuse. What had Chiose said back then:
[I'm in charge of creating beautiful memories for her, and you're in charge of keeping Soyo so swamped with work later that she's run off her feet and can't go home! Whether or not we succeed absolutely hinges on you stirring up trouble from within, my good System!].
Tsk, tsk.
Taking advantage of the empty office, The System brazenly plopped herself down in Soyo's seat.
She had to admit, you get what you pay for—the chair Nagasaki Soyo had splurged a fortune on really did feel different.
After a brief rest, The System had no choice but to confront the work ahead.
By her estimate, another week of working without sleep or rest would be enough to clear out everything Nagasaki Soyo had left behind during this stretch of absence from the company.
Though The System worked day and night without rest—you could even say she hadn't closed her eyes once in the past month or two.
An ordinary person would absolutely have dropped dead long ago, but she was the super-tough System, after all.
Gazing at the half-moon outside the window, The System actually found herself growing nostalgic for the days when Chiose wasn't running simulations in the real world.
Those days were truly wonderful—nothing needed to be done... all she had to do was stay in the System Space sleeping every day.
Just who was it that kept egging Chiose on to run simulations?!
Oh, it was me... that past self of mine really was damnable.
Miss System wallowed in self-pity for a moment, then went back to her high-intensity work.
"I hope Little Chiose can pull off something big, otherwise I'll have no choice but to raise the price of the Birth Mystery Box before the next simulation."
You screw me over, I'll screw you over too!
This was just the everyday dynamic between Miss System and Yoshiiro Chiose—they wouldn't go so far as to trip each other flat to the ground, but they'd definitely scatter a handful of pebbles whenever the other was walking around barefoot.
And that's just how it was.
"What a comfortable sleep."
No pressure whatsoever, no work to deal with—all she had to do was sleep while hugging an adorable little loli...
This is exactly the kind of life I, Nagasaki Soyo, ought to be living.
What does a person live for? Isn't living simply for the sake of sleeping while hugging a sweet-smelling, soft little fool?
It really felt just like a dream; ten years ago she wouldn't have dared even imagine a life like her current one.
A little earlier than that... if you'd told the Nagasaki Soyo of fifteen years ago that she'd now have a daughter and a warm, big bed, she'd absolutely have figured she'd eaten too many mushrooms and started hallucinating.
"Mama, I like you!"
To be "confessed to" by her daughter first thing in the morning—how heartwarming.
The adorable little white-haired dumpling, rubbing against my heartstrings—is there drool in your mouth, why is your speech so slurred? Do you have any idea that the way you look right now and the things you say are really cute to the point of being downright unfair?
"Mama likes you too, you know."
I really do like you, I really do... Without knowing when it began, I've been completely caught by this little child.
She's so well-behaved, she carries a shadow of myself; she's so cute, cuter than every other little living thing I've ever seen.
How on earth does she do it?
"Hungry, are you? How about Mama goes and makes you something to eat?"
"Mm!"
Normally, if she wasn't busy, Soyo was unwilling to leave the warmth of her covers—a fine habit cultivated over many years as a shut-in girl.
Heading downstairs, making breakfast, chatting with her own daughter about childish yet adorable topics—life really was wonderful.
Soyo was starting to grow accustomed to living like this; if one day her daughter were to disappear, she didn't even know what would become of her, haha.
In the afternoon, Soyo had originally thought of dropping by the company for a look, but Secretary Haizuka messaged to say everything was normal, and the various reports and materials Soyo had in hand indicated the same... so she simply stayed holed up at home.
In the yard were many vegetables and fruits she'd planted with her own hands, but unfortunately, due to her neglect over this period, quite a few had been gnawed at by insects, becoming rations for all sorts of nasty little creatures.
"Chiose! Fetch Mama the watering can, would you?"
"Okay!"
The little one who'd been sitting on the doorstep watching her work toddled off with a bobbing gait, and after a patter of "pitter-patter" footsteps, that exquisitely sculpted little darling came walking back again.
"Mama! Here!"
Holding up the watering can as if fishing for praise... no, she was clearly fishing for praise! Soyo couldn't ignore the longing in Chiose's eyes.
Would she dampen her own daughter's enthusiasm?
This time, Nagasaki Soyo would not.
"Little Chiose is the best—truly Mama's good child."
How embarrassing—why was she growing ever more skilled at settling into being a mother? She'd been single since the womb for thirty years, after all.
Soyo raised her hand, wanting to pat Chiose's head, but the dirt from the vegetable leaves had left quite a bit of mud clinging to Soyo's snow-white skin.
She'd meant to pull her hand back, but Chiose stopped her.
"Pat away, Mama—Chiose won't mind one bit! I like Mama the most!"
[Won over adult Soyo in three days, because I'm the super Chiose!]
This child...
"Mama... likes Little Chiose too, you know."
Having her hand gripped tight and forced into a few pats, the chains that had sealed off the door to Soyo's heart seemed already to have fallen away in large part.
Nagasaki Chiose, this child of only six years, was miraculously teaching her mother Nagasaki Soyo what love was.
In...credible.
Having quickly finished up the work in the yard, Soyo and Chiose leaned back against the fence, basking in the sun.
Today's sun wasn't the least bit harsh—quite gentle, and the cloud cover wasn't thick either, retreating of its own accord as though it understood people's hearts, revealing a stretch of pale blue sky.
To pass the days leisurely like this together with Chiose seemed like quite a happy thing indeed.
In a few days she'd have to go visit her mother again; she hoped her mother would wake up soon.
"Yay! We can finally go on an outing! Long live Mom and Dad!"
"Silly child, don't run off now."
Passersby walked by outside the fence—a child cheering, a couple smiling kindly.
Soyo turned her head and found Chiose gazing at her with a timid, yearning look.
But that gaze was very brief; in just an instant, Chiose lowered her head.
"What's wrong—do you want to go on an outing too?"
Don't all little kids love going out to play?
Soyo had loved going out to play when she was little too; it was just that no one ever took her. Much of the time she could only listen to other children sharing which hot spring they'd visited or what festival they'd wandered through, and each time she heard this she'd yearn for her parents to make time to take her along.
Well, well—but thankfully she'd never held out too much hope, so when her expectations fell through, she didn't feel too great a disappointment either.
"Mm! Grandma said before that she'd take me out... and now Chiose wants... to go out and play with Mama! Mama stays cooped up at home every day, your mood will! turn bad! I want to go out together with Mama! To unwind!"
"!"
Falling silent, Soyo pressed her lips together.
[So unfair...]
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