Harumi and I have been friends for a long time.
At first, Kagami showed a lot of hesitation about leaving me at Harumi’s house, but after a few times, it seems he was able to trust Fukuda-san.
Basically, Kagami always wanted to be with me whenever he could, but on days when I had to work while kindergarten was closed, there was nothing that could be done.
Still, he never let me sleep over at another house.
Kagami would always come back no matter how late it was and take me home. As if it was some sacred duty or something.
…Um, I understand the concept of “sacred duty,” but it makes sense because we are mother and daughter, after all.
I gradually started trusting Kagami, and now I can lean on him without much worry.
Unfortunately, Kagami still seemed a little young to me, so I couldn’t completely depend on him yet.
The items in the house were still piling up.
Besides my kindergarten uniform, Kagami would bring back cute clothes that seemed to suit me one by one.
Most of it was skirts, which made me feel a bit strange, but when I wore those clothes and looked at myself in the mirror that Kagami bought, I could somewhat understand why he bought those outfits, so I just pretended to like them.
Not just clothes, but also shoes and underwear.
They steadily increased one by one according to how fast I was growing.
Among the growing items, there were hardly any for Kagami. In my past life as a child, I hadn’t noticed it, but now I knew.
Kagami hardly bought anything for himself.
Instead of buying things for himself, Kagami always brought me clothes and shoes with a smile, as if that was what he wanted.
Thinking coldly, I wondered if it would be better for me to wear something a few sizes bigger that I could use for a long time.
With that money, he could have bought himself some clothes that would last much longer.
“What do you think, Koto Ne! These shoes, aren’t they super cute? I bought them because I thought they’d look good on you!”
“……”
Still, I couldn’t tell Kagami to “buy yourself something too.” This house wasn’t exactly a wealthy one.
I couldn’t even say not to buy me clothes. If I said something like that, it would hurt Kagami that much.
In the end, I couldn’t bring myself to say those things to Kagami, and I could only nod to his smile like a dog.
And this “thing done for me” wasn’t limited to just clothes and shoes or the occasional toys.
“Koto Ne, do you have a school you want to go to?”
One day, Kagami asked me that while I was sitting on his lap.
I unconsciously tilted my head up.
Could I really pick an elementary school to go to? To be honest, I didn’t know much about that. I grew up in Seoul, so I just went to whatever middle or high school I was told to go to. I heard that in other regions, kids have to take a test before entering high school, but honestly, the only entrance exam I took was for university.
Especially elementary school isn’t an educational institution where kids pick what they want, is it? Little kids don’t know how to apply.
Usually, it’s the parents who take care of that.
So even when asked to pick a “place I want to go,” I had no idea what to say.
“What kind of place do you want to go to?”
Recognizing that I seemed a little abnormal with my expression looking up at him, Kagami adjusted his question and asked again.
“A nearby place? A place with recently built facilities? A place with pretty school uniforms?”
“……”
It’s not that it’s always like this, but sometimes, Kagami projects onto me what he wanted when he was a child.
He doesn’t force it, but—one’s words always stem from one’s own knowledge or experiences, right?
I wasn’t sure how long Kagami could attend school properly, but I had the feeling he hadn’t had a fun school life at a school that fit all those three categories.
I thought for a moment.
I take a kindergarten bus, but for elementary school, kids usually go to and from school themselves. Especially in a big city like this, it’s rare for a kid to say “the school is too far.”
If that’s the case, a nearby place would work? But somehow, I feel like Kagami would prefer a “place with pretty school uniforms.”
Kagami always seemed happy when he saw me wearing clothes. The fact that elementary school students have school uniforms seemed a bit questionable to me.
After thinking for a moment, I suddenly realized that I actually had a very clear preference that surprised me.
“……A place with Harumi.”
Yeah.
I hadn’t exactly made any friends since I came to this world. Even without Harumi, there were a few kids I played with in kindergarten.
But Harumi was the friend I was closest with among them.
Ironically, being next to this younger girl made me feel a little more at ease. I didn’t have to think too seriously about how to spend time in kindergarten.
If we both went to the same elementary school, wouldn’t that extend that time a little longer?
Plus, if I went to a different school and there wasn’t a single kid I knew in my class, that would be really unsettling. I don’t have many memories of when I started elementary school, but I do remember my first day at middle school and high school. It was quite disorienting to be surrounded by a bunch of unfamiliar faces.
If Harumi was there, maybe it wouldn’t be as daunting.
“Oh my.”
After hearing my answer, Kagami’s eyes widened a bit.
Looking up at those two eyes blinking, I briefly questioned if I answered incorrectly, but Kagami then smiled brightly as if he really liked my answer.
“That makes sense. If you have such a close friend, wanting to go to the same school is only natural.”
Kagami hugged me tightly. Being in his soft embrace, I felt his hand gently brushing through my hair.
“Thank you for answering.”
Kagami said.
I thought maybe because I spoke clearly about what I specifically wanted rather than picking from the options, Kagami felt that my answer was sincere.
“Shall we discuss it with Harumi’s father?”
I nodded.
*
We still haven’t graduated from kindergarten.
But I was planning to start elementary school next year. The process to enter elementary school didn’t just happen overnight, and it wouldn’t hurt to buy things I’d need for school in advance.
Especially, it seemed like Kagami was eagerly waiting for me to get a randoseru.
A randoseru.
I’ve never been to Japan, so I don’t even know if real elementary school kids use them. When I was little, I just carried a bag with my indoor slippers in it.
But at least, it seems that elementary school students in this world use randoseru.
“Hehe, hmmm~ hihihihi~”
Humming an original melody that has no resemblance to any nursery rhymes I’ve learned so far, Harumi walked ahead with great strides.
Well, since she was still a toddler who hadn’t even entered elementary school, one could say she was still more on the “wobbling” side rather than “toddling,” but she was already a bit taller than me, so there was a noticeable difference in our strides.
Since she grew taller than me, Harumi started acting as if she were my elder sister all the time. Not that she changed how she addressed me, but it felt like she was always trying to take care of me.
What can I say, that’s just how kind she is.
We walked into a shop filled with elementary school bags. It didn’t seem to be a place that only sold randoseru, but there were quite a few people, like us, who came to buy bags in advance. The whole wall was crammed with randoseru.
…No, they all looked the same to me. Of course, the colors were slightly different.
Moreover, they were astonishingly expensive. At a glance, the price seemed enough to buy several sets of the clothes or shoes I usually wear.
Yet, Fukuda-san and Kagami behind me had expressions that said it was only natural.
“Let’s buy the same one!”
Harumi shouted.
The adults around us glanced our way. Though we didn’t look much like sisters… still, we seemed to be very close friends, as everyone had smiles on their faces.
Same… while to my eyes, they all looked pretty much similar.
Some of them looked like old military gear.
If you put it in words, it seemed like Harumi would take a long time to choose a bag, but just like any other kid, when she gets fixated on something, it seems nothing else catches her eye. In hardly five minutes of looking around, she quickly chose a bright red randoseru.
And naturally, I picked that same randoseru too.
Side by side with Harumi, carrying our red randoseru, Kagami looked like he was on the verge of tears.
No, he actually wiped his eyes with his hands.
Every time I sang songs or whenever I danced in kindergarten, the rolls of film from the second-hand camera that Kagami had captured all my moments.
Even though standing there with a bright red randoseru on my back and posing for thirty-six pictures felt a bit embarrassing—
Well, the outcome revealed a sufficiently adorable version of me, so I could understand why Kagami liked me so much.
…I wonder if he’ll faint when we go shopping for school uniforms.
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