What on earth did Tomori mean, acting like that?
Soyo didn't know.
She watched the other's somewhat desolate figure recede into the distance, like a lonely soul walking alone down the road to ruin.
Soyo opened her mouth, yet she couldn't produce a single sound to serve as words of farewell.
(What a strange aura... Tomori, she...)
"Mama, can I really have ginseng chicken soup today?! As long as Chiose drinks ginseng chicken soup, she'll definitely get better!"
Her daughter gazed at her tenderly with big, innocent, uncomprehending eyes, and absurdly, Soyo felt that the Chiose before her now was very... benevolent?
"Pfft—Little Chiose's such a good girl. Why do you say drinking it will make you better?"
"Because every time I got sick before, drinking ginseng chicken soup always made me better! So this time it definitely will too!"
Every time... sick?
Oh.
(That's right, Little Chiose is already six. She... all these years, every single time she fell ill, I never once paid attention. What on earth have I even been doing...?)
She wanted so badly to make it up to her, but lately Soyo had been so busy her feet hardly touched the ground... Even the most basic companionship had seemingly become a luxury.
Nagasaki Soyo covered her mouth as she walked out of the hospital room, her temples throbbing and swollen with pain.
"Haizuka, do you have a moment? Pack up a serving of ginseng chicken soup and bring it to the hospital for me. Thank you for the trouble."
On her way toward her mother's hospital room, Soyo dialed Haizuka Kyou's number.
She walked and stopped, walked and stopped, at one point leaning against the wall for a long while before she recovered her spirits.
"No, no—I'm a mother of a child now. I can't be this listless!"
Slapping her cheeks hard, Soyo forced her exhausted body to press onward.
Her mother was hospitalized, and Chiose was too.
Why was her whole family in the hospital...?
It was practically a curse.
Sigh.
That night Soyo scarcely managed to close her eyes; not daring to let down her guard, she kept watch by Chiose's side, then hastily set off for work first thing in the morning.
Monday, overtime until ten.
Tuesday, overtime until nine.
Wednesday, she didn't make it home in time; caught between the worries of work and her uneasiness over her child, Soyo fell asleep in the office.
Thursday, having barely stabilized the business crisis, Soyo finally... got off work before six.
Today she was to pick Chiose up from the hospital and take her home.
Nagasaki Soyo sat in her car, her face haggard as she looked toward the rear-view mirror.
"Haah..."
What pained Soyo's heart most wasn't merely her various failings, but that Chiose's situation was coming to resemble her own childhood more and more.
The same mother too busy to come home early, the same broken, incomplete family, the same... lonely, solitary existence.
But Chiose actually had it even worse than Soyo.
Soyo's first family fell apart when she was in fifth grade—that year she was eleven, whereas Chiose right now was only six.
Growing up without a complete family, and not even cared for by her own mother... Chiose, how did you, child, ever pull through it all?
Picking up her child and heading home went faster than she'd imagined. Little Chiose dozed groggily in the back seat, her head nodding, and Soyo carefully made as little noise as she could so as not to disturb her.
The silence of the whole drive gave Soyo a rare chance to catch her breath,
and only once they were back at the little home she shared with Chiose did her uneasy little heart finally find a measure of relief.
"Little Chiose, we're here. Time to wake up, okay?"
"Nnngh, Mama... I'm so sweepy."
"Then Mama will carry you down."
After several days of IV drips and medicine at the hospital, Chiose must have been tormented into real misery.
It pained Soyo's heart, yet there was nothing to be done; even someone as formidable as Nagasaki Soyo felt powerless.
"Mama, school starts in a few days. Will you come to our elementary school's opening ceremony?" Nestling deeper and deeper into her mother's embrace, the words she spoke left Soyo feeling all the more wordless.
Was Little Chiose already about to start elementary school?
Good heavens, how could it be so fast? It honestly felt like it was only yesterday that she'd taken her in.
"I'll definitely be there. No matter how busy I am that day, I'll get there in time."
Wait—which school was Little Chiose enrolled in again?
The corner of her mouth trembled and trembled uncontrollably, and at last Soyo recalled a question her mother had asked her some months back.
(Does Little Soyo think Tsuki no Mori is better, or Hane-oka? I hear Hane-oka has a nicer atmosphere. How did Little Soyo find it, studying at Tsuki no Mori?)
What had she said at the time?
At the time she'd merely given a little nod and hurried off to a meeting.
"Is it... Tsuki no Mori?" she ventured cautiously, as though testing the waters. Soyo felt utterly mortified with herself right now.
"Yep! Hehe, Grandma said it's the school Mama helped pick out, and she said—Mama used to go to school here too!"
Not daring to lower her gaze to look at her daughter, Soyo struggled to rein in the guilt within her and made a certain resolution in her heart.
(I have to solve these work problems quickly—I absolutely must make up for it and fulfill Little Chiose's wish!)
Her mother really was too gentle—she'd seen through Soyo's impatience back then, yet hadn't lectured her over it.
Her mother was forbearing with her, just as she always had been.
If Little Chiose ever came to know what she was truly like, she'd surely be terribly disappointed, wouldn't she?
"Mama, what are we eating tonight?"
"Ginseng chicken soup and pan-fried tofu. Mama's even learned how to make ginseng chicken soup now... Play on your own for a bit, Little Chiose, and Mama will call you when it's time to eat."
"Okaay~"
Although her body was still quite frail, Chiose had recovered to a relatively good state.
That was also why Soyo felt at ease letting the child play alone—though truth be told, Soyo really wanted to strap the girl to herself, so she could keep complete, clear watch over anything amiss with her child.
She was simply too afraid of Little Chiose getting hurt or falling ill again. Each time was like carving a piece of flesh from her own body.
"Phew... finally. The hospital was honestly the death of me—every single day I had that gloomy-type Takamatsu Tomori staring at me... That girl actually went and took her annual leave just to come see me."
Chiose stood in the sunroom taking in the scenery, her little mouth muttering away nonstop.
"Such a dummy, such a small fry. Could it be that the Takamatsu Tomori of every single world likes me this much?! Just wait till I get back to reality—I'll bully you good and hard, you dumb, dim-witted little penguin."
"How naughty of you, Little Chiose."
The System's voice behind her was as emotionless as ever, but Chiose felt that the thing was, more or less, teasing her.
"Idiot System, hurry back to your overtime. Don't go wearing out my daughter."
One little hand pointing, the other planted on her hip, Yoshiiro Chiose was suddenly struck by the absurd sense that she now looked just like a smug little brat.
"I'm working, I'm working, sheesh. But when do you plan on ending this Simulation? Feels like the emotional bonds are pretty much developed enough by now."
Blinking its golden eyes, the System's mouth twitched a few times.
"Soon, soon—I know you're impatient, but hold your horses! My adorable Soyo-Soyo hasn't made enough mistakes yet. If I died right now, the effect would be good, but it still wouldn't reach its absolute peak!"
The more mistakes she makes, the deeper the regret.
"Hehe, just you watch—I'm absolutely going to make her... carry this regret for the rest of her life!"
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