A new home?
The room was enormous — though empty and soulless, like an office floor after everyone had clocked out and scattered. Still, this single bedroom alone was considerably larger than their entire old apartment.
"Did you and Chiose-mama — I mean, sis — did you both work hard for this place?" Soyo asked her mother with a small, careful smile, a hint of wonder in her voice.
"We sure did! Ahaha hahaha!" Miss Nagasaki threw her hands on her hips and laughed with great gusto. Who could ever have imagined that this woman — giddily bragging about her accomplishments to her own daughter like a big kid — was the same force of nature who commanded entire boardrooms out in the world?
"Mama is amazing, truly incredible!" Soyo's voice was warm and gentle; she had no intention of dampening her mother's joy.
But just as Soyo was about to say more, her mother's phone rang without any warning.
"Hello, hello? Ah, it's Nagasaki here — what? The 18.6 billion yen in funds has already been transferred to our account? Wonderful, I'll be right over."
Miss Nagasaki took the call while practically dancing in place with excitement. She barely had time to give Soyo a quick wave before she was out the door.
Left behind, poor Nagasaki Soyo stood frozen in place, utterly at a loss.
"Ah... well. Mama's gone back to work again."
She looked around. Empty. Bare. Not a trace of warmth anywhere.
Miss Nagasaki hadn't had a chance to bring all their things over yet. Soyo sat on the bed and wondered when she'd be able to go back to the old place to collect the little trinkets she loved.
She hadn't seen much of Yoshiiro Chiose this past year, but every time they met, it left a deep impression on her.
"Chiose-mama brought me so many little gifts... every visit she'd bring something I'd never seen before. Too bad none of it made it to the new place."
The big stuffed rabbit she loved could sit right on the nightstand. The little teddy bears could nestle in the half-open shelf under the desk. Hmm...
It would be too much to ask her mother to come back with her and help move things. Mama had ten thousand things to deal with every single day — she wouldn't have time for something like that.
Nagasaki Soyo lay back on the bed, her headband slipping off to the side. She didn't bother fixing it.
"So empty... so cold... what am I even going to do today?"
She was about to graduate from elementary school and enter middle school. She'd seen her mother on the phone with the principal of Tsuki no Mori Girls' High School a few times lately. Was she really going to enroll in that school full of young ladies?
Would she actually be able to manage?
Middle school — it felt like such a distant, foreign word. It seemed like just the other day she'd started elementary school. Yet somehow, that was already behind her.
But more than schoolwork, her current circumstances weighed on her more heavily.
"Mama's career has taken off, but she has even less time to spend with me... Well, I'm glad Mama has found meaning in her life."
Chiose-mama's free time had dwindled right alongside her mother's rising career. The last time they'd met — that must have been last month, right?
That day, Chiose had brought her back to the cozy Yoshiiro Chiose's apartment and treated the dieting Soyo to homemade grilled beef rice bowls.
"That rice smelled so good... I'm so hungry right now."
The sun outside was sinking. Before long, its orange-red glow had spilled all across Soyo's room.
Nagasaki Soyo closed her eyes and sat up — and her nose bumped straight into something incredibly soft and springy.
Whatever it was had remarkable elasticity. It nearly bounced her right back down onto the bed.
"Mmph? That's — Chiose-mama! When did you — !"
Soyo pressed a hand to her forehead and blinked. Before her was a silky black slip dress, and as she followed the graceful lines of the figure above it, she found the face she knew better than almost any other in the world.
"Long time no see — it's been about a month, hasn't it? How has my darling little girl been getting along?"
Bending forward, Yoshiiro Chiose's hand instinctively came up to cradle Soyo's chin. Smooth skin met soft cheeks at zero distance, carrying their feelings directly between them in both directions at once.
"!!!"
"Don't squirm, little one. Look what I've brought for you."
Every little smile and expression brought back that familiar, beloved feeling Soyo had been missing. Yoshiiro Chiose reached behind her back with her other hand and produced a bag.
"Well, there's only so much one person can carry — I just grabbed a few things. We can go back to the old place tomorrow and get the rest, yeah?"
"Eh! So Chiose-mama already went to the old apartment just now!"
"Of course. I was worried you'd feel out of sorts in a house with none of your familiar things around."
While Soyo rifled through the bag, Chiose kept ruffling her hair affectionately.
"So then — my sweet little Soyo, do you like this place that your mama and I worked so hard to build?"
Yoshiiro Chiose — who had been hiding in the wardrobe this whole time, waiting for Miss Nagasaki to leave — mimicked the other woman's earlier pose and raised both arms wide, like a queen presenting her kingdom.
[What do you call it when a cuckoo takes over a sparrow's nest?! Miss Nagasaki, take notes — THIS is what that looks like!]
The sight of her left Soyo staring again and again.
"I do... I..." She wanted to say the words she'd held back from her mother earlier — wanted to say them to Chiose-mama instead. But she was afraid Chiose might still have work to get to, that she'd leave just like her mother always did, so she hesitated and stayed quiet.
"What is it? Don't be shy — you're adorable, my little Soyo."
Yoshiiro Chiose took the bag back and drew out one of the small teddy bears she had once given Soyo as a gift.
"How about I put this on your nightstand? We'll have to take our time and get this room properly set up... Actually, why don't I take you out for a nice meal first, and then we'll swing by the old place to grab some of your things."
That Miss Nagasaki, honestly.
The moment Yoshiiro Chiose thought of that hopelessly scatterbrained fool, she was too exasperated to do anything but laugh.
She had brought her daughter to their new home — but hadn't breathed a word about it in advance, all in the name of "keeping the surprise," which meant the poor kid had arrived without a single piece of luggage.
Miss Nagasaki, you really are just as much of a child as my kids, aren't you!
Sometimes, facing this mother-daughter pair, Yoshiiro Chiose felt like she was dealing with her own immature eldest daughter and her timid little youngest daughter all at once.
"Eh! Chiose-mama, don't you need to go do something later? Mama's been so busy lately... I'm not going to get in the way of her work, am I?"
Soyo pressed a hand to her chest. She craved company — desperately — but if that company came at the cost of someone she cared about sacrificing something precious, she would rather do without.
She couldn't live with herself otherwise.
"Of course not, my darling."
Chiose took Soyo's hand and led her toward the front door.
"Don't worry. The busiest stretch is behind us now. From here on, I should have a lot more time to spend with you."
The corners of her mouth lifted. Chiose remembered — Soyo was about to start middle school.
[Middle school, huh...]
For every little protagonist in any given simulation, [middle school] was an extraordinary chapter.
Middle school — that would be the golden harvest season!
"Really?"
"Really."
Soyo's reaction was adorably satisfying. Yoshiiro Chiose tidied up her hair, tilted her head, and smiled.
"I'm taking you for samgyetang. Sound good?"
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