Ch.321IF Side Story: Seems I’ve Arrived a Bit Early (18)

Living with Harumi offered more benefits than just having a safe place to be after school.

One advantage was that by observing Harumi’s thoughts and speech, it became easier to mimic children of that age.

How do elementary school students express joy?

As an adult who had been somewhat emotionally dry, I rarely uttered exclamations lasting more than a second even when something pleased me. My eyes probably didn’t sparkle either.

This remained true even after I became an elementary school student, so it wasn’t easy for me to show extreme excitement like other elementary schoolers when Kagami gave me various gifts.

That’s why I used Harumi as a reference.

“Kotone, Kotone.”

One day, Kagami put her hand on my shoulder and said,

“Would you like to go to Di○ney Land this weekend?”

“W-wow….”

Honestly, I couldn’t perfectly imitate Harumi. I couldn’t put complete sincerity into my voice.

But seeing Kagami smile and hug me, I must have been somewhat successful.

*

The date we went to the amusement park wasn’t exactly a typical date, strictly speaking.

Usually, people aim for Golden Week, or Children’s Day in May. Or they might choose a child’s birthday or vacation time.

We went on a weekend in mid-June, a rather ambiguous date. But I think I understand why it happened that way.

Human plans can never be perfect, can they?

Expenses aren’t something you can avoid just because you don’t want them. Even if you reduce basic food costs, things like house repairs or essential electronic devices breaking down happen frequently.

By my estimation, Kagami might have already exceeded “unexpected expenses” when she sent me to “the school Harumi attends.”

Objectively speaking, we’re not particularly well-off. But Harumi’s school is one that wealthy children attend.

The uniforms are expensive, and all the items those children use are costly. The randoseru Kagami bought for me certainly wasn’t cheap.

It’s not strange at all that plans targeting “May 5th” might be delayed by about a month.

The weather was leaving spring behind and heading toward early summer.

Or rather, it could already be considered summer weather. Since Kagami didn’t have a car, we moved by train.

I’ve heard that despite being called “Tokyo Disneyland,” it’s not actually located in Tokyo. Like how facilities with “Seoul” in their names are often actually in Gyeonggi Province.

But it was close enough to justify the “Tokyo” name. If it’s within a 30-minute train ride, that’s not a bad distance at all.

“Hehe.”

Luckily, the two of us managed to get seats.

Perhaps someone deliberately chose not to sit down after seeing young me holding Kagami’s hand.

Since I was already about first grade in elementary school, I was already a bit too big to sit in Kagami’s lap, so we sat side by side.

Kagami already had an excited face. In some ways, she might have been even more excited than me.

Since I was only six years old, Kagami was just barely entering her twenties.

The fact that she could still look so innocent despite all her hardships wasn’t just because of her age.

It’s because there are still many experiences she hasn’t had.

I don’t know much about the “normal life” of Japanese people. This was my first time living in Japan, and no matter how generously you put it, my life wasn’t in the category of “normal.”

What percentage of people living in Tokyo reach twenty without ever visiting a theme park?

I can’t say there aren’t any… but don’t schools often organize trips together? Even though I wasn’t the type to deliberately visit amusement parks, I had been to amusement parks in Seoul or its suburbs several times during elementary, middle, and high school.

But Kagami probably didn’t have such experiences.

Memories of happily heading to an amusement park as a child, firmly holding both mom and dad’s hands—Kagami probably doesn’t have those.

Again, Kagami was just in her twenties. By Japanese standards of that era, she had “just” become an adult.

And in my opinion, a “newly minted adult” is still too vulnerable in many ways to be considered fully grown up.

Both in their own perception and in others’ eyes, they’re like someone who has just hatched from an egg, with too many first-time experiences.

“…”

I stared at Kagami’s face.

Is Kagami someone who became an adult too quickly?

Or is she someone who still hasn’t become an adult?

It would be more correct to say that both situations are all mixed up. Because she’s still living such a difficult life.

Noticing my gaze, Kagami turned to look at me.

And as she stroked my hair with her hand, she asked in a gentle voice,

“How is it, Kotone? Are you excited?”

Something in her voice seemed to reveal Kagami’s feelings, which made me smile.

And I felt somewhat relieved too.

For various reasons, I can’t earn money. In fact, the fact that we can live like this is thanks to the money Mr. Yamashita lent us, so strictly speaking, we have almost no assets.

Of course, thanks to that kindness, we don’t need to pay it back separately yet.

In such a situation, going to a place where we have to spend quite a bit of money just for admission meant that we had gained some leeway.

“My heart is pounding.”

Thinking this would sound more childlike than just saying I was excited, I said that.

Kagami pulled me close to her side.

I saw some adults standing nearby who couldn’t hold back their smiles and turned their heads, but I decided not to mind.

*

I don’t think I need to talk about the time spent waiting in line or how incredibly crowded it was.

Despite appearances, I have more tenacious patience than ordinary children. Standing in line for a few hours is nothing to me.

Even when Kagami asked a few times if I was okay, I nodded.

It was fun.

Perhaps because it’s a company that makes animations that children often watch? The height restrictions for attractions weren’t that strict. Even though I was a bit smaller than Harumi or Yuu, Kagami didn’t raise me in a malnourished state.

Of course, it was too crowded to try all the attractions in this large amusement park, but that was okay. With my most precious family member beside me, always sitting right next to me on the rides, I was satisfied.

Even the attractions meant for young children were well-made, and some were based on cartoons I had watched when I was young, which made them even better.

Not just rides, but there were also attractions where you moved on boats over water. When I saw things rising from underwater, I was a bit amazed. Not just dolls roughly shaped like characters, but truly trying to recreate scenes from movies or animations as much as possible.

Well, I suppose that’s what attractions are.

But if I had been a young child with plenty of strength but not much endurance, I might have run out of energy after playing all morning and whined about wanting to go home around two or three in the afternoon.

I wasn’t much different now—but Kagami looked so happy that I tried my best to keep up with her.

We left the amusement park as the sun was setting.

“Kotone, are you okay?”

Even though I had been energetic while playing in the amusement park, I must have looked a bit tired when we left, as Kagami asked with a worried expression.

“I’m fine…”

Well, actually, I wasn’t that fine.

You know that strange feeling of exhaustion after playing for a long time?

Honestly, I’m not sure if I can stay conscious on the train. I might fall asleep even while standing.

But I feel bad about asking Kagami to carry me. After all, I weigh over 20 kilograms.

“…”

While walking with both hands firmly holding Kagami’s waist, I looked up at her, thinking I might be less drowsy if I said something.

“Mom.”

“Yes, Kotone.”

“Did you have fun today?”

Kagami seemed momentarily speechless at my question.

Was she afraid of why I was asking?

“Yes, I had fun. Very much.”

Hearing Kagami answer with some hesitation, I smiled.

Then, good.

Me too.

“I had fun too.”

Seeing me say that, Kagami pressed her lips together for a moment.

Then she hugged me tightly.

Around us, people like us were passing by. Everyone was either carrying tired children in their arms or smiling as they listened to children who were still excited and chattering.

Like us, many people probably came even though it wasn’t a special day.

But what does it matter?

Today’s memory will remain special for a long, long time.

Just as it will for me.