Nagasaki Soyo left the house, like a gust of wind.
Standing on the terrace, gazing down through the windows of the glass room, Yoshiiro Chiose held her little toy and silently saw Soyo off into the distance.
"With this departure, so many things are bound to change again."
Soyo, you'll handle your work splendidly; as your mother, I have faith in your abilities.
But will you handle everything else just as well?
For instance, how will you divide your time between work and leisure? And just how long will it take before you settle into that comforting little excuse—"There's nothing I can do, I really want to take care of my daughter, but I simply don't have the time"?
As your daughter, I also have absolute faith in your choices.
"You'll surely never be able to set your work aside to look after your daughter, oh my dear good daughter."
Her eyelashes trembled and trembled, and Yoshiiro Chiose recalled many memories from the past.
She remembered the day she'd taken Little Soyo out for samgyetang—if she recalled correctly, that day Ms. Nagasaki had been busy with work and turned down the invitation to go out and eat with Soyo and herself.
That day had been her own day off, and by all rights, looking after the child wasn't her responsibility.
But back then, Little Soyo, who'd been stood up, had been so heartbroken, and so it was she who took her out for that grand feast.
The samgyetang of that day remains unforgettable to Chiose to this very day.
"Today you're destined to be unable to make it back before dinner... ah... I'm so sorry, Little Soyo, it's all my fault, being the mother who's your daughter."
What a complicated set of titles—my daughter's daughter is myself, and my mother's mother is also myself; my daughter's mother is not me, yet my mother's daughter is indeed me.
So...
"I am my own mother? And at the same time, I am my own daughter?"
Yoshiiro Chiose was amused by her own train of thought. She shook her head, letting her neatly tied hair tumble loose, and walked downstairs carrying her teddy bear and toy doll.
"Should I go hide in the wardrobe, or should I turn off all the lights in the house and leave only the little orange lamp on the dining table?"
Such a difficult choice.
There aren't too many ways to make her regret it, but I can hardly carry them all out.
Why not just use them all in the future!
After all, a Simulation is only a Simulation, so I might as well go all out to my heart's content—otherwise people might think I haven't improved one bit since my very first Simulation.
Soyo, please bear witness to my growth!
How many more chances will we have to bid each other farewell?
...
Busy.
So busy.
No way...
Why would...
"This busy?!"
It was already nine in the evening. Since rushing to the company at four or five in the afternoon, Soyo hadn't had a single chance to take so much as a sip of water.
It was far too busy—a flood of phone calls coming in, an endless pile of matters needing her review and signature, things to wait on, things to sign, things to wrap up.
She did her utmost to appear unflappable in the face of crisis; before outsiders she must not, could not show any timidity or panic—after all, she was the very soul of this company.
If even she lost her composure, how could everyone else not fall into a panic?
"Phew..."
Heaving a long sigh—Secretary Haizuka knocked and entered, for who knows how many times that night.
"Miss Togawa has agreed to tomorrow's meeting. Nagasaki-nee, hurry home and rest. You've worked hard today."
"Ah... thank you for your concern... mm..."
Wait.
Wait, wait, wait!
Home!
She whipped her gaze toward the window. Outside, the world was ablaze with lights, lively and bustling.
Yet Soyo felt a chill seep into her heart.
"Little Chiose... oh no, I was so busy just now I never thought of any of this."
She hadn't even found the time to make a phone call and have someone deliver dinner to Little Chiose.
"That's all for now. See you tomorrow morning, I have a private matter to attend to."
Giving Secretary Haizuka a nod, Soyo snatched up her coat and headed straight out the door.
Push the door, take the elevator, exit the building, get in the car... traffic jam.
A perfectly ordinary situation—Soyo had clearly faced this very routine countless times, yet only today did it make her so anxious.
Facing the business catastrophe that had nearly brought the sky crashing down earlier, she'd handled it all with ease and composure, but now she felt only a fluttering dread in her chest.
Her own family... going hungry at home...
And what's more...
"Have I actually broken the promise I made to my daughter? She so rarely makes requests of me—could it be I can't even fulfill one of her few wishes...?"
The red light went dark and lit up again, and the sense of peace Soyo had only just attained in her heart flickered on and off all the same.
Such guilt—she had promised Chiose, after all.
"When I was little and Mother broke her promise to me, failing to make it home in time to eat with me—was this how she felt too?"
Soyo's heartbeat stuttered. She seemed to see countless boomerangs chasing after her, smashing into her.
Stop hitting me, stop hitting me—you'll shatter me to pieces.
So when it's my turn, I can't do any better either, can I?
What an utter failure.
The car behind was urging Soyo to get moving, and only now did she notice the green light had appeared.
She stamped down on the gas pedal, and along with it she trampled her own restless, irritated heart.
She couldn't help wanting to curl a strand of hair, but both hands were on the wheel and she couldn't spare a moment for it.
The familiar intersection had lost the foot traffic of daytime; beneath the neon lights stood countless shuttered restaurants. Soyo spotted the izakaya where she'd taken Chiose to eat last time.
It had closed long ago—while Soyo had been at work...
At last, after enduring a torturous ten-minute drive with her heart in turmoil, Soyo pushed open the courtyard gate, walked along the outdoor corridor, and reached the door at the bend.
The neighbors next door and all around had already turned off their lights to rest—truly worthy of the "quietest, most rest-friendly residential district" she herself had chosen.
The key turned with a heart-rending sound. Soyo fidgeted uneasily with her fingers and gently nudged the door open with her elbow.
Amid the creak, Soyo's grayish-blue pupils couldn't adjust at all to the dim light inside the house.
She rubbed her eyes, and when she opened them again her pupils instantly contracted to pinpoints.
Beneath the orange light, a little girl sat upright before the dining table.
She looked so lonely, dozing off with sleepy, bleary eyes, a faint trace of drool still glistening at the corner of her mouth.
And she was such a tiny little thing, not even as tall as a chair—sitting there, she looked just like an oversized figurine.
Chiose's shadow was stretched out long, reaching all the way into Soyo's heart.
"So familiar... ah... far too familiar... what on earth is this..."
This scene was practically identical to the times when she herself, as a child, had waited for her mother to come home.
When had the backpack slung over Soyo's shoulder fallen to the floor? She didn't know.
The only thing she knew was that her own body had begun to tremble uncontrollably.
The little child sitting before that table seemed not to be Nagasaki Chiose, but rather... her own younger self.
And the adult standing dazed within the doorway was not Nagasaki Soyo either, but rather... her mother.
She was now standing in this very spot watching her own daughter, just as her mother had stood in this very spot watching her all those years ago.
Ah.
Her mother back then, just like herself now:
"Did it ache in your heart?"
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