Ch.231Epilogue. At Least This Time (1)

Fall.

The season when the sky grows higher and horses fatten up—well, I can understand the sky getting higher, but I’m not sure about horses fattening up. I’ve never actually seen a real horse.

If I said this out loud, Kagami would probably get inspired and impulsively suggest we head to a horse farm tomorrow. So to change the subject a bit, while I don’t know about horses, I’ve definitely gained weight.

Despite how I look now, I was quite an active person in my previous life.

My job itself was active, and I had to do at least minimal exercise to maintain my physical strength.

I didn’t particularly enjoy exercise, but I consistently worked out for my job and to keep my position.

So it was only natural that when my situation improved dramatically, my activity level dropped significantly.

Well, that’s not to say I became fat. Just moderately… well, depending on one’s taste it might vary, but I should say I’ve reached an appropriate level just by looking.

Enough that the kids around me could finally look at me with somewhat relieved expressions.

And an event was approaching where I could show off my improved health—not that I particularly wanted to show off—but the opportunity was coming.

It was the sports festival.

Even third-year students preparing for exams participate in the sports festival. Rather than taking it as seriously as first and second-year students, it seems more like a concept of finally cooling their heads after studying hard.

And there was one person who was extremely serious about this sports festival.

No, not Koko. Koko is serious about almost everything anyway.

I mean Kagami.

“…What is that?”

I asked Kagami with quite a serious expression.

“It’s a cheering baton.”

“…Why a cheering baton…?”

I understand holding something when cheering. You know, those balloon things. The vinyl balloons that make a clear “tang, tang” sound when you hit them together. I know about them because I used them with friends during last year’s sports festival.

But what Kagami was holding wasn’t that kind of cheering balloon.

It was literally a cheering baton. The long stick that looks like what you’d use to cheer for underground idols.

The kind that lights up when you press a button.

“Don’t they do cheering shows?”

“Cheering shows—”

I started to speak but then touched my forehead.

“No, that’s not a show.”

Or is it? Is it actually a show?

Since it happens during the sports festival, maybe it is a show? Since it’s also cheering, could it be called a cheering show?

But even so, bringing an idol cheering baton feels somehow strangely wrong.

If that were the setting, I could understand a little. For example, there’s that common setting from that era, “school idol,” right? For some reason, there’s a fan club behind an ordinary student, and there are kids who follow that student around like they’re following an idol.

In a slightly exaggerated work, there might be scenes where those kids cheer with batons—

“No.”

I cut it off firmly.

“Cheering is something received by the spectators.”

Right. That’s the essence of cheering.

I almost got confused because of Kagami.

“B-but, won’t this be essentially the last sports festival our daughter participates in? Once she becomes a college exam student, she’ll just come to rest.”

Where did she find that information?

Well, it’s not like Kagami can’t use the internet. Actually, we bought a laptop for the house recently. No matter what, not having a single computer was a bit inconvenient for doing various things.

It’s 2005, isn’t it? A time when the internet was developing at a dazzling speed. It’s still far from catching up to the era I lived in, but the prototypes of most internet services all came out during this period.

If she didn’t attend school properly and acquired that information from the internet, such a reaction could certainly come out.

Still, it’s fortunate that Kagami didn’t get her school knowledge from light novels or school manga.

I sighed softly and said:

“…I’ll let you keep that headband you’re wearing.”

No matter what, it would be too pitiful to take that away too. Kagami must be looking forward to it in her own way. The kids will probably just think of it as “a somewhat unusual mom.”

“Oh, really?”

At my words, Kagami immediately put down the cheering baton while smiling brightly.

…

What’s this?

Why do I feel like I’ve been tricked?

“What sport does our Koko like best?”

As if hoping I wouldn’t realize something, Kagami turned to Koko who was beside her.

“Huh?”

Koko, who had been drawing something with colored pencils in her sketchbook, tilted her head as she looked up.

“No, wait a minute.”

I called out to Kagami.

“Did you just deliberately present something ridiculous to make me permit something else?”

“What? Of course not.”

Kagami fully displayed her old habit of “hiding emotions with a smile.”

And before I could rebut, she pulled both Koko and me in for a hug.

It became a somewhat awkward position since she hugged us across the table, but it was true that being buried in her embrace made it difficult to say anything.

…Well, what can I do?

I can’t tell her not to do that now.

Certainly, Kagami has a point.

I’ll be a third-year student next year. So will Koko. Unless we end up repeating a year due to some extremely unexpected incident, this will be the last sports festival that we both take seriously.

So, I guess it’s unavoidable if she goes a bit overboard just this once.

*

“No way.”

“Huh?”

But that thought was completely blocked by Kagami’s stiffly hardened face.

“What do you mean ‘no way’?”

As I asked with furrowed brows, Kagami pointed directly at my stomach and said:

“That outfit, your navel is showing!”

“…”

I seriously contemplated for a moment how to respond to that.

“So… are you saying this outfit is too sexy and not allowed?”

I asked, dumbfounded, and Kagami made an incredibly firm expression.

“Yes, that’s right.”

I closed my mouth for about 15 seconds, wondering how to respond to that.

“But it’s just a normal cheerleading uniform?”

Kagami slightly opened her mouth at my words.

“I’ve seen it several times at the place I worked!”

“Well, I guess there are people with that kind of fetish.”

The place Kagami ran was a bar, not a place where those kinds of things happened. Of course, I can’t know what might have happened when people met separately after work.

“But there were people wearing clothes like this there?”

“…Various outfits were prepared there. Some people would wear them if customers wanted.”

I stood there with a blank expression for a moment.

“But you were fine when I wore a maid outfit. You even said it was cute.”

And this is just the kind of outfit a cheerleader would normally wear. If anything, the wrong side was the one using this for business.

If other cheerleaders heard this conversation, they might collapse holding the back of their necks. People who exercise hard and have extremely clean cardiovascular health.

“That’s because it was different from the clothes at the place I worked.”

Kagami rebutted my words like that.

“…”

Should I call it consistent?

I thought quietly and then said:

“But this is an outfit that other kids are wearing too, not just me.”

Last year, I was too embarrassed by this outfit and wore a gakuran instead, but this time is different.

I’ve gotten quite used to this body, and I’ve tried on all kinds of clothes over the past year and more.

Honestly, compared to the swimsuit Yuka picked out for me, this outfit doesn’t even have much exposure.

Of course, as Kagami said, my navel is exposed, but I’ve become tolerant enough to handle this much now.

It’s not something I’ll wear regularly, just once for cheering.

“Even if other kids wear it!”

“And there are shorts underneath. See.”

When I lifted my skirt to show her, Kagami’s face turned pale blue.

“A girl shouldn’t do that!”

And she quickly knocked my arm away.

…

Well, I understand that, but isn’t it fine since you’re my mom? If it had been underwear underneath, even Kagami might have hesitated a bit, but it’s just short pants.

“No matter what, it’s not allowed!”

“Then how did you endure when I wore a swimsuit?”

It was even a bikini when I went out with Yuka. Of course, it was a bikini with lots of lace, so it couldn’t be said to have excessive exposure.

“You’re going to dance in front of other people wearing this, right? And in front of male students too.”

So it was a matter of chastity.

I stared blankly at the ceiling for a moment, seriously considering.

As Kagami said, this sports festival might be the last one for me.

I’m not sure if there will be something similar in university, but even if there is, whether I can enjoy it as much as now is another question. By then, I’ll be an adult, so it might be a bit awkward for Kagami to come and cheer.

So, since I’m doing it, I wanted to properly enjoy it too.

After thinking for a moment, I just flopped down on the floor.

“Kotone?”

Kagami was a bit surprised by my sudden action.

Because this had never happened before.

“…I won’t get up until you give permission.”

I said with a serious expression.

“Kotone?”

Kagami spoke with a much more flustered expression than before, fidgeting.

Just like Kagami did when Koko and I went to Hawaii.

“Woo?”

And seeing me like this, Koko tilted her head too.

“Koko, do you want to lie down too?”

“KOTONE!?”

Seeing me rebel(?) to this extent over something like this, Kagami was absolutely horrified.

In the end, after about 5 minutes of bickering, the daughter was the one who won the mother-daughter fight.