"Little Soyo, I didn't get the chance before — so let me give you a proper tour of my home now."
The door swung open onto a cozy little world. Yoshiiro Chiose had decorated the place with deliberate care — every corner warm, every detail quietly human.
"This is the bookshelf. You're welcome to come read anytime — though, well... the content might be a little beyond what's appropriate for children."
Tucked behind the books was a photo collection of Miss Nagasaki — taken just last month, when Chiose had dragged — pfft, when the other party had dragged her along to shoot them.
"This is the kitchen. And back there is the canned goods cabinet — over a dozen varieties. You could become a spam-can artist right here in my home."
"And this is my bedroom."
"Is this... where Mama stayed that one night?"
Ichinose Soyo peered into the cheerfully decorated bedroom with wide, uncertain eyes. The excitement that had lit up her face moments ago quietly faded away.
But Chiose caught every flicker of it.
"What's wrong, my little sweetheart? Why the long face all of a sudden?"
"I..."
Soyo looked down at the floor. Her hairband slipped, letting her bangs fall across her face. She didn't bother to fix it.
"Is it because you're missing your mama?"
Seeing a place and thinking of a person — that's a very childlike thing. Though, if she was being honest, adults were just the same. Children simply couldn't hide it.
Fifth grade. At that age, most children were still half-lost in a dream — and plenty of adults couldn't even recall the memories they'd had before then.
"It's not... only that."
What else, then?
It was the first time Chiose had seen Soyo drag her feet like this, reluctant to say another word.
A little pressure right now would absolutely pry it out of her. But a good woman didn't do things that way. A good woman let the other person say it of their own free will.
"Do you think you could tell your big sister about it? If you don't mind... when Miss Nagasaki isn't around, you can think of me as your mama too, you know."
What was this — offering the child a meal replacement? Well, a meal replacement might not be the real thing, but it still filled you up.
A gentle embrace. A warmth that radiated straight through. What Yoshiiro Chiose gave Ichinose Soyo was precisely what the girl had gone so long without —
A hug.
"I..."
Soyo gathered herself for a moment, and in the end chose to speak:
"Actually, a few days ago... after Chiose-nee and I went our separate ways, I was woken up in the middle of the night by the sound of Papa and Mama fighting."
In the bedroom of Yoshiiro Chiose's apartment, a white-haired beauty in full bloom held a trembling little girl with brown hair.
"And then? My good girl — what happened after that?"
Chiose wanted nothing more than to fold Soyo right into herself. She stroked the back of that warm little head, over and over, drawing her out with a voice as soft as a lure.
[Yes, just like that! Pour your heart out to me. Trust me. Rely on me. Obey me. Let me be your mother — Ichinose... Nagasaki Soyo.]
Ichinose Soyo, who had never intended to tell any of this to anyone, found herself coaxed wide open in the warmth of Yoshiiro Chiose's embrace.
Without a moment's hesitation, she laid out every last one of her little secrets:
"I heard Papa say he wants to divorce Mama, and then... Mama didn't turn him down... I heard them say it would happen in a few days... maybe tomorrow, or the day after... I..."
[Miss Nagasaki, you absolute legend! When you say you're leaving, you leave! I salute you!]
Divorce hurt children the most — everyone knew that! And wasn't this just handing her the perfect opening to step right in?
Absolutely perfect.
"Baby, you don't have to say any more. I'm right here... if it hurts, you can cry. It's okay."
She wouldn't cry!
[I absolutely will not cry!]
But here, in the room where her mama had once spent the night, wrapped in the arms of a woman who felt just like her mama...
Ichinose Soyo's mind was flooded with the thought that from now on, she would never have a whole family again.
She would never again sit around the tiny dinner table on a weekend evening with both her parents, eating a home-cooked meal her mother had made herself. She would never again get to watch a baseball game on her birthday with the two of them, biting into those American-style hot dogs that cost a few hundred yen apiece.
If her parents really did divorce, the pressure would land on her too. Would it be like those TV dramas — a judge or someone like that, sitting upright and solemn, asking her point-blank:
[Would you prefer to live with your father, or with your mother?]
If it came to that, she would have to face the hopeful gazes of both her father and her mother. No matter which one she chose, she would be hurting the other. It would mean abandoning one of them.
How could anyone possibly do that...
"Baby, don't spiral. There are so many things we simply can't change."
"Mmh."
Soyo began to cry.
She had clearly been trying so hard to hold it in.
Chiose patted her back with slow, gentle strokes.
Children felt everything so hugely. One sad thought was all it took — even if there had been no warning at all half an hour ago, their faces could crumple in an instant.
It was the first time Chiose had witnessed a child's complete collapse up close. Her mouth kept up a steady stream of soothing words, but her eyes were seeing someone else entirely — herself, long ago.
[When I was small and heard my parents had been in a car accident... was I crying like this too?]
It was all so distant now. Only a few years had passed, and yet Chiose couldn't recall a single detail.
Perhaps those memories had hurt so much that her mind had simply buried them.
Soyo's crying gradually eased while Chiose was lost in her thoughts. Yoshiiro Chiose gently wiped away the tears and looked into those bright, dewy eyes.
"You know, little one — the more I look at you, the more I feel like you're just... me."
"What? I... I..." Soyo's nose kept twitching; the crying had left her breathless.
"Let me tell you a story. Once upon a time, there was also a little girl. Around the same age as you, she went through a change in her family — only her parents were both gone, and she had a blind younger sister to look after."
"Ah? And then what happened?"
Soyo had a dim, vague sense that something was off — but her emotions were running too high for her to pay it any mind.
"What happened? That girl cried through countless nights, praying for someone as gentle as a mother to come and be with her."
"Oh? Oh..."
"Yes. And little Soyo — though I never did find that mother-like person I was waiting for, you found me."
Yoshiiro Chiose took Soyo's small hand in hers. Such a tiny, precious little hand.
"Promise me — don't hold anything back from me. Let me be the one you lean on. I will always listen to little Soyo. I will never abandon you. I will be patient, always — and I will always take every word you say to heart."
Soyo was completely caught in Chiose's gaze.
Gold flickered within the red. The tenderness in those eyes was something she would never forget, not for as long as she lived.
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