Ch.403IF Side Story: Seems I’ve Arrived a Bit Early (100)

There are several good things about bringing Koko home.

First of all, there’s more laughter in the house.

It would be a bit ambiguous to say laughter “returned.” It’s not like we never laughed before.

However, lately the atmosphere had often become somewhat sluggish, and whenever that happened, Koko would do something funny.

Like wearing clothes backward, pronouncing words strangely, or misunderstanding homophones and saying weird things.

The most amusing part is definitely her “waa?” or “woo?” sounds.

Just hearing that one word makes whatever serious worries I had seem irrelevant.

Though she calls me “big sister,” honestly speaking, it might be better if she were the “little sister” now. Since I have to take care of her when we’re together anyway, having that kind of justification would be much better.

…And personally, I didn’t particularly want to be treated like the younger one.

The second reason could be considered an extension of the first.

We wanted Koko to adapt to society.

Especially Kagami, who seems desperate about it.

Kagami seems to have accepted Koko as her daughter, but there was a bit of an issue before that.

Kagami left Koko behind.

I think it was unavoidable. Koko didn’t even look human until she started imitating my appearance.

Besides, at such a young age, just escaping with me was already an incredible feat. How could she have carried Koko’s sealed body from birth? Even if she had, we couldn’t know if that “part” would have become the Koko we know now. We still don’t fully understand Koko.

Nevertheless, guilt is inevitable. It means she judged her daughter by appearance and distinguished between those worth saving and those not.

“Excellent, Koko!”

“Waa!”

And perhaps because of that burden, Kagami has been teaching Koko very diligently.

Between Koko and Kagami were books and notebooks. The books were the kind kindergarteners or lower elementary school students would use to learn letters, and the notebook contained practice writing of those letters.

Koko is learning to write.

The fortunate thing is that Koko is quite intelligent. She accurately mimicked what I said, somehow restrains herself from doing things she shouldn’t based on reading the atmosphere, and as we can see, she’s learning things—Koko simply hasn’t learned much yet, but she doesn’t have a mind incapable of learning.

There will probably be limits. She might not be able to become the top student in school, and there’s a high possibility she won’t become a once-in-a-century genius.

But we don’t want such things. We just hope Koko can adapt to society at least as well as I have.

Kagami thoroughly accommodates Koko.

“W—aa!”

“Waa, that’s right!”

When Koko raises both arms above her head and shouts, Kagami does the same. There’s no sense of “forcing it” in her expression. Kagami is truly enjoying it.

…I see.

I’ve rarely shown such childlike behavior in front of Kagami.

I tried. I sang songs I learned at school, did rhythmic movements, read storybooks clearly, and diligently wrote letters to my parents when required. I can assert that the emotions in those letters were genuine.

The problem is that no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t completely reproduce the “genuine innocence of a child.”

“How did our daughter get so smart?”

Kagami says this while reaching out to pat Koko’s head. Koko is genuinely enjoying it.

Watching this scene, I feel like some of my burden has been lifted too. I had thought I was just passing a task onto Kagami.

“…”

Dad was also sitting on the sofa, watching the scene with contentment.

Come to think of it, he now has three daughters.

Of course, he has his own daughter separately too.

…Someday, if I meet that family, I’d like to express my sincere gratitude. To tell them that thanks to their father, we were able to survive like this.

Whether that day will come or not, I don’t know.

But at least I can hope.

*

Since Koko also needed to adapt to the outside world, I took her around the neighborhood whenever I had time. Kagami did the same, but I thought it would be better if I was the one to “introduce friends” to Koko.

And naturally, the first person I introduced as a friend was Shii.

“Two… seniors?”

“This is my twin, Koko.”

I answered Shii, who was muttering with a very confused expression.

“Until now, we’ve been living apart due to various… issues, but we finally get to live together. So I came to introduce her.”

“Oh, I see.”

The Sasaki siblings also lived apart due to “various issues.” Shii seems to have quickly imagined the reason why we lived separately.

“Um, so… Koko-san?”

“Koko!”

“This is Shii.”

“Shii!”

As soon as she heard the introduction, Koko shouted like that and rushed to give Shii a big hug.

“Senior!?”

Koko’s appearance is exactly the same as mine. Naturally so, since I directly showed her my body to make her resemble me. This wasn’t something I could ask someone else to do either.

Perhaps because of this, Shii, who initially called her “Koko-san,” somehow naturally started calling Koko “senior” too.

There won’t be any confusion with the titles. We always stuck together at the Sasaki house anyway. Even after teaching her various things, there were still many insecurities.

“Souta!”

That’s right.

Just like with Shii, Koko tried to hug Souta too.

I quickly grabbed Koko’s body to stop her.

“No, Koko.”

“Woo?”

At my words, Koko tilted her head.

“You shouldn’t hug men carelessly. Except Dad.”

“That’s right, senior. You shouldn’t do that.”

Shii, who had almost witnessed another woman hugging her brother, said that while wiping her brow, and Koko tilted her head as if she didn’t quite understand.

“Here, I’ll hug you instead.”

Shii said that while opening her arms.

“Waa!”

Koko hugged Shii again. …Shii is definitely younger than me, but they were almost the same height. I felt this usually, but seeing it objectively made it even more apparent.

Though no one present cared about that.

“…”

After breaking the hug, Shii looked back and forth between me and Koko for some reason.

“What?”

“No, just thinking that this kind of atmosphere suits you well too, senior.”

“…”

When I was at a loss for words at Shii’s comment, Shii burst into laughter.

“Shall we have some snacks? I happen to have some.”

“Snacks!”

Koko responded immediately to those words.

Hmm.

Shii used to be quite guarded around people she met for the first time.

Could it be that the environment is better than in the original work? Kagami has been consistently helping, and our dad has been providing various kinds of assistance whenever something happens at the Sasaki siblings’ house.

No, it’s probably more than that—it’s Koko’s unique atmosphere that played a role.

That distinctive and pure atmosphere that makes even strangers lower their guard.

…

How difficult it must have been for a child who can love people so much to be in that dark place.

I let out a small sigh.

*

For the first few days after Koko came home, the two of us stayed in a different room from Mom.

For now, the person Koko felt closest to was me, and I thought that if anything happened between us, I would somehow be able to handle it.

Koko liked me.

Perhaps because she had stayed under that dark roof for so long. Koko burrowed in seeking warmth, just like a cat. Yes, it must have been terribly cold in winter.

After living like that for a few days and confirming that Koko had no particular problems, I went back to sleeping in Mom’s room.

Of course, Koko followed me. Kagami, who had accepted Koko as her daughter, didn’t drive her away either.

Koko naturally nestled into Kagami’s arms.

…Well, yes, that makes sense. Kagami is much taller than me, and, how should I put it, her embrace is much warmer. But I felt somewhat sullen. I never thought I would feel something like jealousy toward my mother.

Of course, Mom doesn’t care about such things at all.

She just embraces us with both arms full, with a beaming smile on her face as if she’s the happiest person in the world.

“…”

I’m glad.

Kagami used to give off an atmosphere as if she had given up on everything, but now that atmosphere is no longer felt.

Rather, she has an expression full of enthusiasm, as if she has found hope again.

In that sense, I’m grateful to Koko too.

I burrowed into Kagami’s arms. As usual, Kagami’s embrace was very warm and comfortable.

…

Perhaps it’s not just Koko who is like a cat.