“Is there anyone here who knows what kind of food the orphans live on in the orphanage?”
Silence…
No one could answer.
Sophia’s eyes sparkled for a moment, and Claire nodded. Thinking about it, Sophia grew up as a spy from a young age. She may have experienced orphanage life, even if only for a short time. Claire can relate since she was in the same place as me.
“At the place I was in, we ate watery porridge. It was made with way too much water and barely any seasoning. You could hardly taste it, and there was almost nothing to chew.”
Silence…
While I was speaking, I wondered if someone would butt in, but thankfully no one did.
“And it wasn’t much, either. Looking back now, I honestly don’t think it was fit to be served to humans.”
It’s not that porridge itself was unfit for humans, but rather ‘that’ porridge was not edible. It’s barely even food if there’s nothing to eat.
“We endured by sharing that.”
“No way.”
This time, someone interrupted me.
Claire, with a serious expression, raised her hand slightly.
“That’s not true. The only one who shared was my sister. She always shared with us, and we only got a few spoonfuls to get by. We fought over the food, but no one shared.”
Oh, was that how it was?
It seems that way.
I was about the same age as Claire back then, so my physical age wouldn’t have been much different.
But even if my body was the same, I was still an adult inside. No way could I take food from starving children. I believed I shouldn’t do that no matter how dire the situation was.
And honestly, I knew what that place was like. I thought I couldn’t change the future, and since those kids would end up like that, I wanted them to at least have a memory of meeting a kind person, even for a short time.
Besides, there were children I couldn’t save. So, it wasn’t something to brag about.
Silence…
The room fell into silence after Claire’s words.
“And I told them stories from the past.”
Claire added.
I had nothing to say. The stories from the past were just roughly pieced together from stories I already knew.
Of course, I wasn’t that great at storytelling, so I improvised parts I couldn’t remember, and the endings of parts I forgot, I just made them happy endings.
Alice had heard those stories before, but the other kids hadn’t. Especially Charlotte looked absolutely shocked.
She was staring at me with a look of utter disbelief. Why is it so amazing that I know how to tell old stories?
It does sound amazing, yeah.
Thinking about it, this could be a pretty good gap. A cool beauty character having been a warm and nice person in the past is a cliché after all.
“And since I lived in such a place, I hardly ever got to eat sweet food.”
If I left it at that, Claire would keep boasting about me, so I seized the moment to continue my story.
“The reason I like sweet food, especially desserts, is because of that.”
To be fair, I always liked it. But it’s not like I could come all the way here to talk about that. After all, I only mentioned it to Rena because it was related to her and her father.
…Everything was practically exposed, so it’s fine to keep at least one little secret, right?
“And it’s also the reason why my sister wanted me to drop the formal speech.”
Once the story ended, Claire said as if she had been waiting.
Seeing the attention shift towards her, Claire shrugged her shoulders and spoke.
“Sister was comfortable with us back then.”
“…No way, was the reason you started using a stiff honorific…”
Charlotte mumbled, but I didn’t feel the need to answer.
After all, how could I say that it was part of my act?
Silence…
Hm, at first, I thought this would reveal another secret and make me feel embarrassed, but in a sense, the conversation… well, I’m not sure if it went well, but at least I think I avoided the worst situation.
As I was thinking about wrapping up the story, Charlotte suddenly shot up from her seat.
“We’re going to the cafe.”
And she gave me an extremely serious look and said,
“…Huh?”
“Right now.”
Looking closely, I noticed that Charlotte’s eyes were a bit wet.
…Did she cry? After hearing my story?
I didn’t mean to go that far…?
“I… I’ll wait outside, so you prepare quickly and come out, okay?”
Charlotte said that and turned around, bouncing out of the room.
…What’s going on?
If I follow her, it seems like I’ll have to stuff every type of parfait into my stomach at the cafe without being able to turn back time.
“Then, I’ll also wait outside.”
The next person to get up was Rena. She smiled gently at me before turning away and leaving the room.
“…I’m sorry for asking you not to. So, this really was your true self. Congratulations on taking off the mask. I hope I can become like you someday.”
Then, Sophia patted my hand and said that before leaving.
“I didn’t speak up during the commotion, but I could grasp the situation to some extent. If you want, I can teach you how to make desserts. I’ll take special care to teach you.”
Roti said politely before exiting.
“There are many cafes in Zeido. I’m sure there are several other nice places too. When we have some time later, let’s find those places together. I also enjoy sweet desserts.”
Mia said with a somewhat serious expression before leaving.
Silence…
That string of events occurred so quickly I couldn’t even say anything; I felt a bit dazed.
“If I’d known this was going to happen, I would have just spoken up earlier.”
Claire muttered as if complaining.
“Yeah, right? It would have been nice if you just started like this.”
Alice squinted at me and said.
“…I had my own thoughts too.”
After hearing my reply, Alice continued to stare at me for a while before finally letting out a big sigh.
“Fine. I won’t deny it. Thanks to you, I’ve been able to take it easy like this.”
“Same here. No matter if you drop the formalities or not, you’re still my sister.”
Claire smiled as she said that,
“But you know, sister, you just used the formal address a moment ago, right?”
She asked.
“Ah.”
Did I?
After using that tone for so long, it looks like it popped out unknowingly. Since I’ve been speaking in polite terms whenever I’ve had to explain or make excuses up until now.
The atmosphere of the conversation we had earlier in the room was just like that.
“Well, it’s fine. That’s not wrong, right? You seem to be conscious of changing it… um, actually, that’s similar to you. You seem perfect, yet there’s some sloppiness. That’s what makes you human.”
“Actually, that perfection was just created on the foundation of that sloppiness. Like coloring on a white canvas.”
Alice chimed in from the side.
“…Are you trying to tease me or compliment me?”
Maybe she was trying to make me feel embarrassed. The truth is, I’m feeling quite embarrassed right now.
“See, with no ability, your true self gets exposed.”
Alice laughed while saying that.
“But that’s exactly the Sylvia we know.”
“I never knew it was like this until now.”
I protested in response, but Alice just shrugged.
“Let’s go out quickly. The kids are waiting.”
“…If I go out, I’ll probably be dragged to a cafe and keep eating desserts until I’m full.”
Especially Charlotte seemed to look endlessly sincere.
“So, you really shouldn’t have said that. Hearing that you learned to love sweet food because you were starving makes me want to fill that empty stomach.”
“Don’t worry too much. I’ll help you out.”
Isn’t it basic that each cafe will have a set for individuals? Even if I drink coffee…
“…For now, should I go call Leo and Jake?”
If I can’t handle it, I might have to ask Leo for some help.
After all, I’ve been a good big sister for a long time; a day of being a bad big sister shouldn’t matter, right?
Seeing right through my thoughts, Alice and Claire burst into laughter.
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