Ch.78Chapter 12. Lantern (2)

Today, I woke up to the warm sensation against my side and stomach.

I’ve lived my whole life with Korean weather that American soldiers complained about, saying “summers are as hot as California and winters as cold as Alaska,” but Japan’s summer was even worse.

Saitama isn’t adjacent to the sea. Of course, since it’s right next to Tokyo, calling it “completely inland” might be slightly inaccurate, but it doesn’t have a “seaside,” right?

Yet even here in Saitama, that distinctive humidity was fully felt.

I suppose it’s because it’s quite a bit south of Seoul latitude-wise. Even Busan doesn’t get much snow in winter, so Tokyo and neighboring Saitama must be even warmer.

“…Snore.”

…..

Still, when I see Koko curled up against my side, breathing softly like Kuro, I think maybe it’s better than being lonely.

Looking back, I brought Koko with me partly because I was lonely.

If I were to identify the fundamental emotion, it was fear, but the result of trying to face that fear with someone other than myself was kidnapping Kuro. In some sense, Koko as a being was an even greater gain.

“Koko. Koko.”

I shook Koko’s body to wake her up.

“Mmm?”

“Get up. We need to start getting ready.”

The sun was high in the sky. Japan tends to have early sunrises, but with the sun this high, it couldn’t be considered early morning anymore.

Koko, who had been sleeping curled up, raised her upper body with a sleepy expression.

I wonder if her back doesn’t hurt sleeping like that?

…I guess it doesn’t hurt, which is why she does it? Koko is very honest with her emotions. If this position was uncomfortable, she would have changed it long ago.

Besides, Koko’s body is… in some ways, beyond what could be described as flexible.

“Let’s eat breakfast first.”

“Food?”

Even with her eyes half-open, Koko responded to the mention of food.

Looking at her, I sometimes wondered.

She eats like a person, sweats like one, has saliva in her mouth, and her eyes are moist like a normal person’s. It’s not just mimicking appearances—each body part seems to function properly like a normal person’s.

Is this something that can be copied just by looking? The remaining parts of Koko in the refrigerator were crudely and grotesquely modeled after a human body.

Did all those parts have the same functions as a human body too?

Sleeping means feeling fatigue and needing recovery. But when I think about a being like Koko, whose body can melt and droop, feeling tired and resting like a human… it somehow doesn’t make sense.

I don’t even know if her internal structure is properly reproduced.

…..

Well, I guess it doesn’t matter.

“…Ugh.”

I got up and stretched my arms upward.

Right. It doesn’t matter.

As long as Koko is by my side, Koko is just Koko. A bit dangerous perhaps, but basically a cute and good child.

That’s enough.

“Right, Koko?”

“Mmm?”

She seems satisfied too.

I patted Koko’s head as she looked up at me while sitting, then headed to the kitchen.

Before going out, we need to eat.

Maybe I’ll make fried rice today. Even if I mess up the portions, Koko probably won’t complain. She might even like it.

When I was alone, I thought retort foods were enough. I thought it was fine to just fill my stomach, even if it was just bean sprouts with soy sauce between slices of bread.

Even when friends came over, I thought it was fine for a day or two. After all, isn’t that what all college students’ meals are like?

But I couldn’t do that for Koko.

If Koko were just staying for a few days, I might have just fed her instant rice or ramen, but Koko is going to stay with me for a long time.

I should feed her properly.

The food expenses will increase a bit, but since Kagami said she’d take care of the tuition-related issues, I decided to rely on that.

While I was frying rice with simple ingredients in the kitchen, Koko approached, sniffing.

“Wait a bit. It’ll be ready soon.”

“Oh.”

Koko doesn’t really like being told to wait.

But fortunately, she seems to understand the meaning of “having to wait.”

Koko waited for the cooking to finish, playing with Kuro near the door.

The fried rice that was completed shortly after was a bit blander than I expected, but—

Well, Koko ate it all clean without any complaints, not leaving a single grain of rice.

I couldn’t help but smile when Koko proudly showed me her empty bowl.

…It’s peaceful.

Perhaps because of the incessant cicada sounds from outside and the TV playing in the background like ambient music in our house, there was a strangely nostalgic atmosphere.

The place was different, the food was different, and the lifestyle had many subtle differences—

Yet, strangely, I was reminiscing.

I wonder why.

Am I overlapping my little sister with Koko—

“…Ah, no. That’s not it.”

I quickly shook my head in denial.

My little sister wasn’t that affectionate, come to think of it.

She hardly ever called me “oppa.” Well, I think she did call me that when I was young and went to pick her up from kindergarten in place of our working parents, but at some point, it changed to “hey.” She didn’t completely stop calling me oppa, but the ratio was probably about 6:4.

I don’t know why.

My little sister probably didn’t know either.

“Mmm?”

When Koko tilted her head, I quickly patted her head.

“No, no, you did well.”

First saying no, then suddenly praising her.

Perhaps because I was being too inconsistent, Koko looked somewhat confused.

*

August 16th.

The last day of Obon.

We both dressed in our nice clothes and went outside.

Unfortunately, the clothes we wore when we went out in summer were both soaked in blood and became unwearable. We did bring some clothes to change into, but all the clothes we had carefully chosen for the vacation ended up like that.

Fortunately, the clothes we bought with Miura, Yamashita, and Fukuda were not damaged.

It was good that I didn’t bring them at all.

After all, I always had to bleed when dealing with yokai. At least I’ve learned that much by now.

…Well, I’m not particularly happy about it.

So, I wore the dress I bought then. For Koko, I put on the white short-sleeved shirt and short pants she wore when meeting Kaoru and Izumi.

Since it was the first time meeting my friends, I took some extra care with Koko’s hair.

The sun was hot.

Despite having played under the sun with exposed skin, neither of us showed any signs of tanning.

At first glance, our skin seemed so delicate that it would turn red with just a little sun exposure… Is this also because of the constitution that heals wounds quickly?

Well, I decided to just accept it as it is.

We headed to Minato Ward, near the school.

“Oh, what’s this?!”

The three of them had arrived a little earlier than us.

Fukuda immediately ran over when she saw us.

And moving her gaze eagerly, she asked.

“Which one of you is Kotone?”

It was clearly a reaction like a child who had just received a new toy, but Fukuda was basically quite kind-hearted, so there was no need to worry too much.

“I’m Kotone.”

“Wow… Oh, I see you’re wearing the clothes we bought together. To avoid confusion?”

That’s part of it.

“Anyway, twins! When I just heard about it, I couldn’t quite believe it, but seeing you two now, you really do look exactly alike!”

Fukuda said with a delighted smile.

“This, child, name?”

“Koko.”

“Koko!”

When I told her the name, Koko immediately repeated it.

Fukuda blinked in surprise, looking at Koko and then back at me.

“Um, hello?”

To Fukuda, who was used to seeing me with relatively little emotional variation, Koko must have seemed quite fascinating.

You know those people, right? The ones where you can’t imagine what they look like when they smile, or what they look like when they’re angry.

Once you actually experience such situations, you think, “Why couldn’t I imagine that?” but until you see it directly, you just can’t picture it.

Often, people don’t even try to imagine it.

To others, Koko would give the impression of an “energetic Kotone Kurosawa.”

“I’m Harumi.”

But Fukuda seemed to adapt quickly, immediately placing her hand on her chest as she spoke.

“Harumi!”

“Hahaha! She’s really cute!”

Fukuda was extremely pleased.

Yes, that seemed like the impression she would have. Even when I was completely expressionless, she would casually play with my hair.

“She has a slightly different personality from you.”

And I felt a bit relieved hearing that.

Fukuda… doesn’t seem to see Koko as a child with disabilities. Whether it’s because they share some personality traits in some way, I’m not sure.

Well, we had only just exchanged a few words.

“But I was really surprised too.”

Miura, who had approached without notice, said.

“I hadn’t heard you had a sister…”

Miura asked me quite seriously while continuously glancing at Koko from the corner of her eye.

…In Miura’s mind, I was a truly pitiful child. That is… I still didn’t know how to clear up that misunderstanding, so I left it as it was, but Miura saw me as a “sexual assault victim.”

Always alone at home, abandoned even by my mother, my only family.

A victim of the worst neglect situation imaginable.

For such a child to have a “sister” would be simply surprising.

All three—Miura, Fukuda, and Yamashita—knew about my situation to some extent, but Miura was clearly the one with the biggest misunderstanding.

“…I was able to find her recently.”

I decided not to be too specific.

The best way to hide a secret is to just speak vaguely. Even if questioned later, I could claim it was a misunderstanding.

And honestly, I couldn’t say that I attached an unidentified giant nose that crawled like a slug to a living piece of flesh from the refrigerator, and that became Koko.

“…”

All three were silent at my words.

I apologized to Kagami in my heart.

Sorry.

Your image seems to have fallen even further among my friends.

I’m not sure if there was any further to fall, but still.

…But it was Kagami who chopped up Koko and put her in the refrigerator, so it’s not exactly a lie. If she was going to put her in there, she should have properly stored the nose part too.

Well, I understand. If the body was like slime with heads and limbs sprouting everywhere and thrashing about, losing one part is actually relatively minor. It wasn’t even at a level where you could tell what was missing, like with a human body.

“…That person.”

Yamashita muttered.

Yamashita was still a person of few words and quiet demeanor, but thanks to spending a few days with me and my helping Mori, the relationship between Yamashita and me was quite good.

No, we could even be called very close friends.

Having seen that side of Kagami in front of me, her already bad impression must be plummeting to the worst.

…..

But I wonder if Yamashita knows her mother’s previous surname? If she did, wouldn’t she have reacted when she heard the surname Kurosawa?

Well, Kurosawa isn’t a surname used only by this family. Just from the names I know, one of Japan’s most famous film directors had this surname.

Even if she noticed the overlap, she probably just dismissed it.

Even if a classmate turned out to be an unknown cousin, it would be hard to be suspicious from the start unless you already knew that fact.

“…So now we’re living together.”

Feeling the atmosphere becoming strange, I quickly said.

The three exchanged glances.

“I’m Miura—”

Miura, stepping forward from beside Fukuda, put her hand on her chest and started to speak, then paused briefly.

“I’m Mako.”

“Mako!”

While Fukuda had simply introduced herself according to her personality, Miura seemed to have vaguely noticed Koko’s condition. Did she think this would be easier to call?

“…Yuu.”

Finally, Yamashita put his hand on his chest and said.

Since the two before him had introduced themselves by their first names, Yamashita also introduced himself by his first name.

Well…

Let’s just go with it.

Not wanting to embarrass the three who had deliberately introduced themselves by their first names, I nodded and took Koko’s hand.

“So, where shall we go first?”

“Well… I was thinking we could walk around outside a bit.”

Fukuda looked up at the sky, and we all followed her gaze.

There were clouds, but not enough to block all the sunlight. Well, even if they did block it, it would still be terribly hot.

“Let’s go somewhere cool first and rest for a bit. You just came by subway, right? There’s still quite some time before they light the fires.”

During Obon, fires are lit to call the ancestors’ spirits, and on the last day, fires are lit to see off the returning spirits. I did my research.

Well, it was information I happened to hear on TV yesterday.

The lantern festival at the shrine was probably an extension of that. I’m not sure why it’s held at a shrine pond rather than a river.

“Oh, right.”

Fukuda suddenly seemed to remember something and clapped her hands once.

“Koko, would you like to try wearing a yukata?”

“Yukata?”

Koko tilted her head and asked.

“You know, a kimono.”

“Kimono?”

“Um…”

Even Fukuda seemed a bit taken aback that Koko didn’t know this much.

The faces of Miura and Yamashita, standing slightly behind, became a bit serious.

That… not knowing what a yukata is might be understandable… or not. It would be strange if a mid-teen Korean girl said she didn’t know what hanbok was.

I was wondering how to explain when—

“It’s a pretty outfit.”

“Pretty outfit!”

At my explanation, Koko’s eyes finally lit up.

Fukuda looked at Miura and Yamashita with a slightly less cheerful face.

And the three nodded as if they had made some decision.

“Let’s definitely wear them.”

Then, Fukuda turned back to us and, holding both of Koko’s hands firmly, said so.

…Hmm.

Well, if I think of it as giving Koko more experiences, there’s nothing bad about it for me.

So I decided to just go along with whatever the three led us to do.

*

“…Kotone.”

After spending some time sitting in a cafe, then going to a nearby rental shop to rent yukatas, as we were walking along the streets in the twilight, Fukuda approached me and spoke.

“…Yes.”

Unlike the usual Fukuda, there was no hint of lightness in her tone, so I responded seriously.

Fukuda hesitated for a long time with an expression of whether she should say this or not, then finally opened her mouth.

“…Your mother.”

She was probably trying to be as careful as possible. Actually, I wouldn’t mind if she just called her Kagami, but to others, she would just look like my birth mother.

We do look somewhat alike. Though I don’t have narrow eyes.

“It seems she’s gotten quite close to my dad.”

“…”

Um…

What?

Surely that weird comment about being my little sister wasn’t actually true? I can only pray it’s not.

“It doesn’t seem like a serious relationship yet.”

Fukuda frowned in thought and said.

“Ah, I don’t know. I just felt like I should tell you.”

“…I understand.”

I nodded.

That she was against it, or that she disliked it.

She was the type of person who could say such things. The woman named Kagami that Fukuda saw.

Rather, Fukuda’s father approaching her despite seeing such behavior might be considered the stranger person.

Well, since he doesn’t consider it a serious relationship, maybe that’s why he’s meeting her without much concern.

“Do you need any help?”

Fukuda carefully asked again, looking ahead.

There was Koko.

Koko, walking between Miura and Yamashita, looked quite happy.

Judging by the meaningless sounds Koko makes when she’s happy—like “Woo,” “Kyaha!” or “Waa”—Koko must be genuinely enjoying herself.

“…I’m fine for now.”

“Really?”

…This is the first time Fukuda has spoken like this.

“Really.”

I answered this quite seriously.

“Despite how she seems, she does provide minimal support.”

And I slightly defended Kagami.

After all, she did resolve the tuition issue. Well, I’ve been buying things like school uniforms with my own money whenever I needed them, but Kagami would help immediately if I asked.

It’s just that I feel uncomfortable asking.

…It feels a bit sorry to create only such an image when I’m receiving so much help.

Ah, maybe it’s too late for that.

“…Really?”

Fukuda responded with a slightly strange expression.

“Yes.”

Since I answered so definitively, she didn’t seem inclined to persuade me further, and Fukuda just shrugged.

“Kotone!”

Koko, who had been walking ahead, suddenly turned toward me and called out.

“Yes?”

“Look!”

She was pointing at a torii gate.

In Korea, churches and cathedrals are often in the middle of the city, but they’re such common facilities that I never paid much attention to them.

Temples are also often in the middle of cities.

But shrines have a uniquely Japanese atmosphere, so seeing one in the middle of the city felt somewhat fresh.

Well, it would have felt fresh anywhere. To my eyes, it just looked like a foreign tourist spot.

A small shrine in the middle of the neighborhood. Fukuda was right.

Though it was crowded with people.

I quickly went forward and took one of Koko’s hands.

“…”

Miura, seeing this scene, must have unconsciously smiled, as she quickly covered her mouth with her hand.

“Well then, let’s go.”

Fukuda said, taking the lead.

Her yellow-based yukata matched well with her tied-up hair.