Ch.328IF Side Story: Seems I’ve Arrived a Bit Early (25)

Human thoughts are truly fascinating; depending on one’s mindset, feelings can completely change.

If I were still in my past life and saw myself now, I would have thought, “How could my thinking become so complicated?”

But what can I do about it?

When someone dedicates themselves to you, regardless of the relationship, you can’t help but care about them.

And if their dedication isn’t uncomfortably excessive, the moment you accept it, that person becomes precious to you.

…..

No, perhaps it’s not such a pure story after all.

I’ve already experienced losing my entire family at once in my past life.

They didn’t do anything extraordinary for me; I just kept receiving, and then one day they were suddenly gone. Blaming that wound, I didn’t spend the rest of my life very meaningfully.

If there is an afterlife and my family saw me, I would have left them each with one more wound.

On the other hand, regardless of what happened in the past, I have a family in this world.

No one in my past life’s family resembled Kagami. No one treated me like Kagami does. But in that mother-daughter relationship, I was reminded of my family relationship that was suddenly cut off in my past life.

Am I thinking of Kagami as a substitute for my past life’s family?

When I think that way, I feel guilty deep in my heart. It feels like I’m doing something wrong to Kagami, who cherishes me with all her might simply because I’m her daughter.

“Hehe.”

At the sound of Kagami’s laughter as she held my hand while walking, I looked up at her.

Kagami seemed to be in a very good mood.

When I suggested going on a trip together with Kagami, she smiled so widely she almost cried. Then, as if she was incredibly grateful that I had said those words, she hugged me tightly, jumped up from her seat, and spun around in circles several times.

…I wasn’t even treating her to a trip; I just relayed what a friend had said to Kagami.

Moreover, Kagami would have to sacrifice her weekend when she could have rested well because of that promise.

And the very next evening, Kagami took me out like this.

Harumi had already made all the travel plans. To be more precise, Mr. Fukuda had accepted Harumi’s proposal and made various arrangements.

And true to Harumi’s character, who was full of plans to play throughout the weekdays, such plans were scheduled for every weekend during the vacation.

So to match this week’s plan, we needed to buy clothes first.

Kagami had already bought plenty of clothes for me. She probably didn’t lack clothes for herself either. However, neither of us had swimsuits to wear to the beach.

It’s only natural that Kagami had an expression like she was about to fly. Since Kagami’s mood always improves tremendously when buying cute clothes for me to wear, of course she’d be happy thinking about buying a cute swimsuit for me.

“Kotone, how about this one?”

“Wow, this one is super cute too!”

“Oh, how adorable.”

“Wait, Kotone, this one too!”

Yes, she was incredibly excited.

To be honest, constantly changing clothes was somewhat physically demanding. Even in my past life, I didn’t like it when my parents suggested going clothes shopping because I had to keep putting on and taking off various outfits.

But I didn’t want to refuse in front of Kagami, who was smiling so purely.

Her already youthful impression became even more so, now looking just like a high school student.

Of course, a high schooler going to the beach with friends and a twenty-year-old mother going to the beach with her daughter are completely different stories.

Somehow, I felt like Kagami had never been to the beach before, and she seemed excited at the genuine thought of playing with me.

Unfortunately, I’m in my growth phase.

If I were at least a high school student, I would have bought several swimsuits with different designs and changed them each time we went out, but being in my growth phase, there was a high possibility that I wouldn’t be able to wear this year’s swimsuit next year.

So we couldn’t buy multiple swimsuits, and Kagami faced the trial of having to choose just one from among many.

With the most serious expression in the world, Kagami picked up and put down swimsuits one by one, and finally folded one of them.

A yellow one-piece swimsuit.

With lots of frills that seemed to emphasize it was for children.

Hmm…

To be honest, I wanted to say I’d rather wear my school swimsuit at the beach than wear that design, but,

“How is it, Kotone?”

Looking at Kagami’s face, which had such a genuinely happy expression, I simply couldn’t refuse.

“It’s cute.”

But I couldn’t bring myself to smile, and instead nodded with an extremely serious expression.

Kagami seemed to find even that serious expression cute, and hugged me tightly while smiling broadly as if the most lovable being in the world was right in front of her.

In the end, that became my swimsuit.

…Well.

Since I’ll have to buy a new one next year anyway, I’ll try to choose a slightly plainer design then.

Next—

“Mom.”

For some reason, Kagami was about to leave right away, so I grabbed her pants.

“Yes?”

“Yours too.”

That’s right.

Kagami was heading straight to the checkout counter with only my swimsuit.

The reason I specifically wanted to go with Kagami was because I wanted to enjoy my first beach trip in this world with her.

Not wearing a swimsuit at the beach means you’re not going into the water, right?

Well, parents might do that.

While the children play, they prepare food, guard the tent and luggage, and just watch from afar—that’s the joy of being a parent.

Yes, I could play in the water without a swimsuit too… but I still didn’t like it.

If we’re going to enjoy ourselves, I want to do it properly and have fun.

“Yours too.”

Last time, Kagami definitely said she would buy one for herself too. I can’t forgive her for changing her mind now.

“Kotone…”

Kagami had a somewhat emotional expression. Perhaps my sincere desire to play together had reached her.

In reality, whenever we buy something, Kagami is the one spending money.

…

No.

Still, she needs to buy a swimsuit.

I want Kagami to be able to enjoy things she couldn’t experience when she was even a year younger.

“Hmm, alright.”

Kagami nodded and said.

“Then, shall we pick out swimsuits for my daughter and me?”

I nodded with a solemn expression.

This was also, just a little bit, about revenge.

Since she made me wear an embarrassing swimsuit—Kagami should wear something embarrassing too.

Any swimsuit would definitely look extremely good on Kagami.

Not just because of her beauty, but especially because of her amazing figure.

*

“Hmm hmm hmm~”

…But in the end, I couldn’t choose something that revealing for her.

The swimsuit I chose wasn’t even a bikini, but a black one-piece. One that absolutely wouldn’t show anything underneath even if it got wet. I even picked out a light outer garment to wear over it.

Well…

As much as I wanted Kagami to have fun, I didn’t want strange people to be attracted to her.

Yes, I understand it intellectually.

Kagami is still young… no, rather than young, she’s a young mother. Even if she can’t get married because of my existence, she could at least have casual relationships, and that would be good.

But why?

Somehow, imagining such scenes didn’t sit well with me.

Well, who in the world would enjoy seeing their mother with another man?

“Kotone.”

“Huh?”

Suddenly Kagami called me, and I was startled.

But there was no darkness at all on Kagami’s face as she looked down at me.

She was just smiling broadly as if not a single moment of all the time she spent with me today was wasted.

“Did you have fun today?”

To Kagami who asked that,

“…Yes.”

I couldn’t help but answer with a small smile on my lips.

“I’m sure it will be even more fun when we go on our trip.”

Kagami said that as if she was looking forward to it as much as I was.

“Yes. It definitely will be.”

As I spoke with determination, Kagami gently stroked my head.

Yes.

At the beach, at the summer festival we’ll go to together. At the indoor swimming pool Harumi mentioned.

It will definitely be incredibly fun.

Enough to remain in our memories forever.

I plan to do my best to make that happen.

Kagami hummed again as she held my hand and walked.

At the sound of her humming, my steps became a little more cheerful without me realizing it.