Ch.360IF Side Story: Seems I’ve Arrived a Bit Early (57)

I feel grateful to Harumi, Yuu, and Mako.

Being with them has taught me how to get close to children.

I can’t completely imitate those three. I don’t have Harumi’s energy, Yuu’s cool charm, or Mako’s gentleness.

Although I’ve somewhat adapted to this child’s body and mind, the being inside is still someone who has lived through adulthood. That much is unavoidable.

However, I could at least borrow bits and pieces from them to imitate.

I brought children to my home. Our house was now not much different from other children’s homes, a normal house with both a mom and dad.

Kagami was popular with the children. Even the girls found Kagami very charming, and whenever children came over, she would serve them plenty of snacks.

It was a bit awkward when Kagami burst into tears when I first brought friends over, but I knew it was because she was so happy.

I still don’t have friends as close as Harumi, Yuu, or Mako. But at the same time, I’ve secured a certain level of popularity with all the children. Not enough to be class president, but enough to casually take one of the committee positions when they’re being selected.

When I brought friends home, Souta didn’t particularly talk to me, but sometimes when I was walking home alone, he would join me halfway and chat about various things.

Very occasionally, when Souta ran into my dad at home, Dad would look at him with a very suspicious expression.

Whenever I saw Dad like that, I would slap his arm. Then Dad would go “Ugh!” and pretend to be hurt in an exaggerated way, then pat my shoulder.

Strangely enough, that expression that terrified Souta felt very natural to me. While before he had completely put up a wall in front of me and treated me like someone unrelated to him, now he seemed to be truly treating me like his daughter.

Perhaps he’s projecting the image of his daughter onto me.

But that’s okay. It’s unavoidable.

I’ve projected my mother’s image onto Kagami before. Eventually, after living together for years, those thoughts slowly disappeared, but I’ve only known Dad for about two years now.

…Well, I decided to just think of it that way while we’re living together. When I eventually return home, he’ll become “mister” again.

Kagami and Dad still treated each other very politely. Honestly, if you looked at just the two of them, they don’t look like family. If others saw them, they would probably look like a couple on the verge of relationship breakdown.

Not in the sense that they’re fighting, but in the sense that they treat each other like strangers. Well, since they’re in a cooperative relationship where neither has feelings for the other, that’s actually better. It makes me feel more at ease too.

There’s no major problem since they act like a couple in public.

Both of them came to cheer for me at the sports festival, even though I was actually in the cheering squad. Souta was also enthusiastically cheering in the boys’ cheering squad, so both of us somehow ended up in Kagami’s camera.

The school festival was fun too.

One good thing about coming to this house was that Kagami was always home.

When Kagami was working, I felt a bit sorry about approaching or clinging to her when she was resting, but not anymore.

Rather, Kagami, who had been waiting for me at home with nothing to do, would melt into a puddle when I hugged her tight while saying “I’m home!”

In the end, it seemed Kagami had given up on having me sleep separately. After living that way for so long, I didn’t want to be apart from Kagami anymore.

“What will happen when you get a boyfriend…”

Kagami seemed extremely worried about that.

…It seemed she was worried I might cling to my boyfriend the same way. And the direction of her worry wasn’t about my relationship with my boyfriend becoming awkward because of it.

It just seemed that Kagami didn’t really want to see me being that close to someone else.

I had no intention of getting a boyfriend, but I didn’t want to challenge her on that point.

There’s still plenty of time left anyway, right?

…I wanted to believe that.

*

When the red leaves had all fallen, and only bare branches remained on the trees.

Wearing a coat in the slightly chilly weather, I was walking while looking up at the sky.

It wasn’t because of feelings like loneliness or emptiness that come with autumn, but simply because the sky was so blue and beautiful.

I liked this time of year the best.

It’s somewhat distant from both the year-end and summer. Autumn events are mostly over, and it’s a season when everyone becomes calm.

Isn’t it a season where you can faintly feel the leisurely flowing time on your skin?

My troubled mind was also healing a bit. When I first came here, I was worried about what those government people might do to us, but at least so far, they hadn’t bothered us.

I don’t know what will happen when I become an adult though.

“Ah.”

Thud.

My toe caught on something slightly, but I didn’t fall like before.

I looked down.

A heavy stone was sticking out slightly.

I pushed the stone aside with my foot. So that others passing by wouldn’t trip over it.

By the way, it’s a bit concerning to have such a heavy stone on a road with no boundary between the sidewalk and the street. How did this stone end up here?

After pushing it near the wall, I continued walking leisurely forward.

I didn’t come with friends today. Sometimes it was nice to spend time alone. Although I sleep with Mom every day, I’ve learned to enjoy some hobbies in my room.

Watching cartoons on TV, watching movies. Well, usually I prefer going to the living room and watching together with the family.

Souta was playing with friends today after a long time. Fortunately, since the second semester began, he’s made quite a few same-sex friends. It seems it was just that he hadn’t fully adjusted himself, not that there was a problem with his sociability.

I was walking quite a while, leisurely thinking about what to do with my time today—

Thump.

I heard what sounded like something falling.

“…Ah.”

And a small groan like that. The sound was so faint that I probably wouldn’t have heard it if I had gone just a little further ahead.

I looked back.

There was a small child who had fallen.

Right against the alley wall.

It didn’t seem like they had come from the same direction as me, but probably from one of the narrow alleys leading this way.

When I quickly ran over, it looked like they had tripped over that stone I had pushed aside. Were they walking right against the wall?

“Are you okay?”

I quickly said that and reached out my hand to help the child up—

Slap.

I was startled and stepped back when my hand was hit by the child who swung in panic.

It didn’t hurt much. Rather, this child seemed to lack strength.

At first I was too surprised to notice, but after seeing the child’s action, I realized how serious the situation was.

The child was wearing a white short-sleeved T-shirt with a stretched-out neck. The T-shirt itself wasn’t a big problem. At least it had been washed.

The problem was the arms that showed below the short sleeves.

Just where the T-shirt barely covered, there were blue bruise marks.

Was it because of my previous life’s work? Those bruise marks particularly bothered me.

It happened sometimes.

Responding to parents’ reports and rushing to the scene, we would put a child in an ambulance, and there would be dark blue bruises or cigarette burn-like marks on their arms or legs.

“…”

“Hey, wait a moment.”

While I was staring blankly, the child started walking forward again without looking at me. As if lacking strength, they walked one step at a time while supporting themselves against the residential wall.

They ignored me when I called out.

A stream of blood flowed from their knee.

I hurriedly searched through my bag. And fortunately, I found a lollipop that a friend had given me.

…This would have been a problematic action if I were really my age.

I held out the lollipop to the child and said:

“…Would you like this?”

“…?”

The small girl, whose hair had grown haphazardly and covered her face, looked up at me.

“…Brother.”

“Huh?”

“Looking for… brother.”

The child didn’t seem to properly understand what I was holding in my hand.

“Brother?”

“…”

And then—

“Ah…!”

I quickly supported the child as they were about to fall. Even though my strength wasn’t particularly great, this child’s weight felt too light.

One thing I could know for certain:

This child shouldn’t be left alone.

Fortunately, my home was nearby.

I supported the child and quickly headed toward home.