All of this was far quieter than she had imagined.
She'd assumed that, brought out to play, Chiose would be just as she'd pictured—shouting and squealing with delight, wouldn't she? But the girl still clung obediently to her side, as though she'd already steeled herself with the resolve to be nothing more than a little pendant hanging off her.
So clingy. How adorable.
"Was dinner good?"
"It was good."
"If you were to grade Mama's cooking, how many points would Little Chiose give?"
"Fifty points."
"Eh? Is a perfect score out of a hundred?"
"Yes!"
"Then why only fifty points?"
"Because there were so many vegetables. So gross. Going vegetarian for ages is awful."
"Honestly—why didn't you inherit this from your mama? Your mama here happens to love eating vegetables. Why on earth would you..."
Hm... hmm?
Oh, oh—it had been so long since she'd paid Chiose any mind that Soyo had unconsciously started treating the girl as her own flesh and blood.
Cough, cough... that's not important. The truth was she hadn't misspoken at all—she was merely telling Chiose a well-meaning little lie! That's all it was!!
Outside, the setting sun was no longer visible.
Yet from the lighthouse on that private little island in the distance came a faint, drifting glow, making it entirely possible to leave the villa right this instant and go play on the nearby beach.
"Wait just a moment for Mama, okay? Mama needs to call the nurse and ask how your grandmother is doing."
Whether it was "Mama" or "Grandmother," she could now actually say such words with such perfect composure? Nagasaki Soyo, you seem to have changed quite a lot.
"Mm!"
Chiose maintained her well-behaved disguise as ever. Following every pattern she'd summed up and every lesson she'd gleaned from before, she laid out all of other people's beautiful fantasies about a "daughter," presenting them in full.
Sitting alone on the sofa against the floor-to-ceiling window, earnestly toying with the dark green doll in her hands, in Chiose's mind an unbroken, sprawling scheme was being woven together.
Oh, my adorable little daughter—let your daughter bring you ever more of life's experiences.
I swear you'll be ever so happy, ever so blessed.
"So this is the sea at night."
Half an hour later, on the beach, Soyo—clad in a white dress—pointed toward the vast sea before them.
No wind or waves rose upon that expanse of sea, and precisely because of that it looked like a black continent.
"So black—it's different from in the daytime!"
Tugging at the hem of Soyo's dress so the land breeze wouldn't blow it away, Chiose pushed aside the bangs blocking her view.
"That's right, which is exactly why they say the sea at night is so fascinating."
One day ten years ago she had sighed in just the same way. Time seemed to have been stolen away by someone—Soyo had merely blinked, and her thirtieth year had arrived to greet her.
"Back then I came with the girls from the university club."
"Now you've come with me!"
Chiose hugged Soyo, like a baby sloth-bear clinging to a full-sized sloth-bear.
"That's right—getting to revisit this old place together with Little Chiose really is wonderful. Pfft, how did you get sand on your face? Do you want to go play in the water? But if you do, you can only stand at the edge, okay?"
Was that a touch too naggy?
Soyo clicked her tongue. She felt she had completely settled into the role of a mother.
She couldn't help but want to fuss over every little aspect of the child—wouldn't that be annoying? But annoying or not, it still had to be said; after all, if she didn't say it, she really couldn't rest easy.
"Okay!" Holding up the Space Marine toy in her hand, Chiose tried tugging at Soyo's hand a few times, signaling for the other to come along with her.
"What, you want me to come play with you too? That won't do, you know—I'm a little tired."
Looking up from below, eyes brimming with question—what's with that face...
"Don't look at me with that expression, now—I didn't say I wouldn't keep you company. Little Chiose, go play by yourself for a bit first. I'll watch you from over here, all right?"
"Okay!"
The little girl, dressed all in pure white, held up her toy and chased the spray through the seawater, her steps light, like a little sprite forgotten in the mortal world.
Chiose, in a matching but small-sized dress, truly was the softest little handful.
The moonlight tonight was bright and pure; the green fluorescence cast from the distant lighthouse let stillness and solitude linger upon the black sea.
"If only Mother were here."
Quite abruptly, Soyo thought of her mother.
A scene she had once never even dared to imagine surfaced in her mind: herself bringing her mother and her daughter together onto the beach, chatting and laughing, watching the twilight sun of the witching hour sink down and waiting for the sea to be dyed black.
Mm, if it were like that, then it should...
"Wah! Mama!"
Chiose's voice startled Soyo from her lovely reverie; her heartbeat quickened, and she answered Chiose at once.
"What's wrong? Did something happen?!"
"The toy... the toy is gone!"
Hurrying to Nagasaki Chiose's side, Soyo crouched down, pressed both hands on the little girl's shoulders, and began checking over her body.
"You scared me to death... I thought something was really wrong. The toy's gone? Then how about Mama looks for it together with you?"
"Mm!" Chiose let out a pitifully aggrieved little sound, giving the impression that she was so easy to pick on, please do pick on her plenty.
Nagasaki Soyo switched on her phone's flashlight and swept it all around the nearby shallows.
She could clearly make out the sand and stones in the water, along with the little fish and little shrimp, but there was simply no sign of that dark green, oddly-shaped toy.
In the end, she quite naturally chose to give up.
"Can't find it. It must have been swept away by the current. How about Mama buys you an identical one tomorrow?"
She'd assumed Chiose would obediently do as she said, just like before, but instead Chiose shook her head, dispirited.
"No, I only want that one..."
"Hm? But there's really no way to find it—"
Was it because she couldn't bear to part with the toy?
The night wind finally paused for a brief moment just then, and Soyo racked her brain over what to say to comfort Chiose.
Once again she marveled at how simple a child's world truly was—the mere loss or gaining of a toy could sway her emotions.
Wasn't it precisely this childlike innocence that grown-ups ought to protect?
"Uu... but it was a gift Mama gave me. It's different... it was the very first present Mama gave to Little Chiose in all these years..."
Chiose lowered her head with a sorrowful face, as if she didn't dare look straight into Soyo's eyes, and once she'd finished speaking she went on searching through the seawater of poor visibility.
Watching Chiose grope about in the sand, that strange flutter in Soyo's heart surfaced once more.
She remembered the teddy bear—back when her mother had washed it to ruin, a Soyo of only a few years old had said the very same thing to her mother.
At the time Ms. Nagasaki had been terribly awkward and embarrassed; she'd crouched down, stroked Little Soyo's head, and said she'd go buy her an identical one.
She herself had agreed back then, eyes reddening—and afterward?
Nagasaki Soyo lifted her head and looked toward Chiose, laboring in vain in the seawater.
No matter how she tried, she couldn't recall the memories that came after.
It seemed that, slipping away along with the years, there were a great many things concerning her mother as well.
Mother...
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