This Simulation really has been a hard one.
By 'hard,' she means this stretch of life spent being carried home by Ms. Nagasaki and raised as her granddaughter.
Within the courtyard where Ms. Nagasaki lived out her retirement, Yoshiiro.. Nagasaki Chiose was hiding behind the sliding door of a certain room in the side wing.
She tilted her little head up to gaze at the ceiling, her eyes glittering with memories of these past few years.
[Who'd have thought that Nagasaki would actually turn dependable once she got old.]
Though, she did still retain a portion of her unreliable traits.
Sometimes when Ms. Nagasaki overslept her afternoon nap she'd forget to make dinner, and then leave the two of them both starving.
Although afterward she'd hug her with a face full of heartache, apologizing and calling herself a fool.
What's more, the aged Ms. Nagasaki was also quite the chatterbox.
She was always muttering all sorts of strange, peculiar things like "this child really does have a face that could make a person rue it for the rest of their life," "Little Soyo's even got a daughter now—I'm getting old, getting old," "ah, white hair and red eyes, I'm done for" and the like.
Ms. Nagasaki really is adorable.
"Haah.…"
[To think Nagasaki-nee would actually fall ill—though it does make the Simulation more convenient..]
Simulation! Simulation.. the Simulation isn't the least bit fun.
Chiose was missing the trait she'd already lost, [Three Submissions]—after all, [Three Submissions] truly could suppress her tangled, chaotic thoughts, keeping all sorts of emotions reined within an acceptable range...
Three Submissions was gentle; under Three Submissions, feelings had always been calm and faint.
"Ngh…"
These past few years, she'd actually been taken care of wonderfully well by Nagasaki-nee!
Calling it hard—really it had been very happy.. because Nagasaki-nee had truly raised her as her own flesh and blood.
It was just—why did she have to fall ill so early? That day, when she'd been woken in the dead of night by the commotion of her stirring, she'd nearly fainted from fright.
From changing diapers to picking her up from kindergarten every day, Nagasaki-nee had already done the utmost she was capable of.
Was she perhaps trying to make up, through her, for what she owed Soyo? But what was that supposed to mean—she was, in fact, a.. very competent but also not-so-competent mother.
After all, it was her first time being a mother too, and a single mother at that.. not being able to care for her own child perfectly—that sort of thing really did leave one helpless.
Faced with the hospitalization of her dear sworn sister and bosom friend from the last Simulation—the grandmother of this Simulation—Yoshiiro Chiose empathized more deeply than anyone.
See that?
This, right here, was powerlessness.
Even though it was only a Simulation, facing the critical illness of someone she cared about would, in the end, draw out genuine feeling; a Simulation is only a Simulation, but..
"Ngh…"
Thinking of these five, six years of care, Chiose couldn't hold back the urge to cry; a very unfamiliar yet very familiar call came to her ears, but having sunk into her grief-stricken mood, she didn't answer.
She crouched her small body down; behind her, the sash of her garment drooped slack, since with Nagasaki-nee gone there was no one to help her tie it tight.
She had no idea how much time had passed when, behind her, the door was suddenly pulled open.
Before the crouching Chiose could even turn her head, she first heard the words of the person behind her.
"So you're.. here, after all. Are you crying?"
Time rewinds to five minutes earlier.
Nagasaki Soyo stood at the doorway for a long while without moving an inch.
This house was the one she'd bought for her mother's retirement—a typical Japanese-style interior.
The little child who'd just gone dashing through the hallway was, without a doubt, that child she'd picked up several years ago.
"Haah... Mom's been hospitalized, and she even went and left me a piece of trouble like this."
Trouble, such a bother.. that day, if she hadn't been drunk, she should've just dropped her straight off at the police station and been done with it.
Soyo sighed, but still chose to follow after.
"Chiose? Chiose! Are you there?"
That child was called Chiose, wasn't she.
Nagasaki Chiose—honestly.. she'd actually become her own daughter.
The feeling of becoming a mother painlessly really was a curious one.
These past few days Soyo hadn't gone off to busy herself with work; she'd tossed her business off to her secretary and subordinates to handle.
In any case, there hadn't been any major matters to attend to during this stretch anyway.
And so, lately Soyo had been napping and drinking in this residence the whole time, yet had completely failed to recall that she still had a daughter.
"There's food in the house, though, so she shouldn't have gone hungry."
In the unfamiliar house, Nagasaki Soyo called out an unfamiliar name.
Over the span of several years, the time she'd spent getting along with the child she'd picked up was scant—less, even, than the time she'd spent with unfamiliar employees at her company she didn't know.
This was probably because Soyo had never once intended, nor ever been prepared, to be a parent.
The deeper she walked into the hallway, the dimmer the lighting grew, until it was only when she drew near that dark wooden door that she just barely made out the sound from within.
[Crying? This child.]
"Haah…"
She is just a child, after all, and her mama was the one who'd always cared for her; now that that person was gone, of course the child would be sad.
Soyo hesitated for a moment, but still chose to push the door open.
After a bit of searching, she finally found her.. that daughter she'd never once cared for in five years.
"Chiose, so this is where you were."
Soyo tried hard to make her voice a little gentler, but the way it came out still seemed cold and chilly.
The little girl crouched at her feet barely managed to stop her sobbing.
Trembling all over, she stood up, turned around, and faced Soyo.
Her pretty little face was as delicate and sweet as honey, her smooth neck unconsciously bared; those crimson pupils were as ardent as a lover's tongue, set off further by that soft, silver-white long hair...
What a flawlessly perfect work of art this was.
"Ngh?"
The adorable little girl had to tilt her head up to see Soyo clearly; in the very moment she looked toward Soyo, Soyo too had sized her up plain as day.
Her eye sockets, reddened from crying, were especially heart-rending.
Soyo felt only that her throat had gone dry.
When she truly came face to face with the adorable little creature called [daughter], she felt only a shiver run down her spine.
[So this is.. the child I picked up that day?]
Ever since she'd struck out working on her own, Soyo had never again given this child any thought.
No.. no matter the time, she'd never once cared about or paid mind to the other.
She'd lived out her life in an aimless daze, her mind set on nothing but becoming a successful businesswoman like her mother.
Add to that the various untreated psychological wounds she'd suffered since childhood—such as the lack of fatherly and motherly love, and the desertion by her companions—and Soyo had, in fact, already half-forgotten how to love others.
Had her mother not suddenly been hospitalized, she'd likely not have met Chiose again until far, far into the future.
But what was she supposed to do with this child?
Soyo crouched down, pondering whether to pat the other's head.
But after thinking it over, she decided against it.
[Maybe I'll just send her to an orphanage... haah, what a bother.]
"You all right, Chiose?"
Soyo attempted to communicate with the little girl; faced with Chiose, she was so utterly at a loss, completely unable to summon the manner she used toward outsiders.
"I.. I'm all right," Nagasaki Chiose muttered in a small voice, looking truly delicate and endearing.
[This child.]
Soyo, tear-stains still hanging on her face, heaved yet another sigh.
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