She was still someone who couldn’t shake off her girlhood, but the person called Kurosawa Kagami was strong.
Living in a country where you receive a resident registration number at birth and are enrolled in health insurance was hard for me to imagine, but Kagami was somehow able to change her name.
“…It must be tough living just the two of you.”
Not long after we escaped, Kagami took me to meet some guy.
If I were to describe the man’s first impression, he was a ‘thug.’
It’s not a good habit to judge someone based on first impressions, but I couldn’t help the image that formed in my mind. If I were a real child, it might be different, but right now, I had the consciousness of someone who had once been an adult.
Memories of my previous life had not faded. In fact, they were vivid even as time passed. It felt like life had continued just as it was.
I wasn’t sure if that was a good thing or not.
“How about I support you instead? Kagami-san, you even have a daughter.”
The man said.
His skin was tanned as if he had been sunbathing. He wore a white suit, both above and below, and it wasn’t just any ordinary suit with two buttons; it was a double-breasted one. Wearing a white suit already stripped him of the impression of being a ‘salaryman,’ but the dual rows of buttons gave off an even more imposing atmosphere.
And his inner shirt had unnecessarily flashy patterns, making it clear that he didn’t look like an ‘ordinary person’ no matter how you looked at it. It wouldn’t be easy to exude such an aura even if he tried to dress that way intentionally.
Kagami referred to that man as ‘Yamashita-san.’
I, sitting on his lap, lifted my head and looked at Kagami’s face.
Perhaps “support” isn’t what I think it is? I felt anxious for no reason.
Kagami is my ‘mom.’
I myself wasn’t sure if I had any feelings as her daughter, but still… I despised the thought of the person who protects me with all her might doing so ‘because of me.’
But there weren’t any other options, either—
“…”
Rather thankfully, Kagami shook her head.
“I… I want this child to grow up normally.”
At Kagami’s words, ‘Yamashita-san’ blinked.
For a moment, the tension on his face disappeared. The man, leaning slightly against the table, pulled back his body with a pensive look.
Then, leaning back in his chair, he closed his eyes for a moment in silence, before a slight smile crept onto his face.
“Is that so?”
“Yamashita-san.”
Kagami bowed her head deeply. Not just her head, though; she hunched over as much as she could while seated.
Kagami’s black hair brushed against my face.
“Considering the trouble my sister caused you, I know it’s not right to come here like this. But…”
“…”
Yamashita-san quietly nodded.
And then he reached into his jacket and pulled out a thick envelope.
It looked like a letter envelope, but to me, what was inside clearly didn’t seem like a ‘letter.’
“I will take care of the name issue. And there’s no need to feel so sorry. I understand your feelings. I’m in the same situation as you, having a daughter.”
Kagami bit her lip tightly.
“Yamashita-san, I—”
“It’s not a gift. Just think of it as borrowing without any due date or interest. When you have the means, you can pay it back.”
“…Thank you, thank you… and I’m sorry…”
“I understand. After all, what I do is what I do. Plus, considering the possibility of running into your ‘sister,’ this is probably the best option.”
Yamashita-san stood up from his seat.
“I’ll take care of the meal costs. Just order whatever you want. You don’t look your best right now… That child hasn’t eaten for a while, has she?”
“…”
Yamashita-san lightly bowed his head and was about to leave but suddenly looked down at me.
The two of us stared at each other for a moment.
A slight smile appeared on Yamashita-san’s lips. Was he thinking of his ‘daughter’?
“By the way, I haven’t even heard your name yet. Hey there, what’s your name?”
“Koto Ne.”
I answered. My voice still sounded young, typical of a little kid in kindergarten.
“Koto Ne.”
Yamashita-san murmured that and then gently rested his hand on my head.
His hands were large and rough. I could guess a bit about what kind of life he lived.
“Take care.”
“Yeah.”
As I answered the man’s words, he slightly lifted the corners of his mouth and turned away.
I felt Kagami tightly embrace me.
Was it because I felt relieved? I heard a faint sob from her.
“Thank goodness… thank goodness…”
Just as Yamashita-san said, he seemed to have left the money at that restaurant.
We received our change after eating, after all.
Why did ‘Yamashita-san’ help us to such an extent? Who was that person, Kagami’s sister?
But it wasn’t really the right atmosphere to ask, so I decided not to say anything.
What felt more important was that Kagami finally got to eat something after a long while.
For some reason, it seemed like Kagami thought it was more important for food to enter my mouth than to have proper food herself.
*
Yamashita Yohei stepped out of the restaurant and rummaged through his jacket again.
But before he could find his cigarette in his pocket, a sharp-witted subordinate, who had been waiting outside, handed him a cigarette.
Yohei took the cigarette, placed it in his mouth, and received a light from his subordinate, deeply inhaling the smoke.
The acrid smoke filled his lungs before rushing out. It wasn’t exactly refreshing.
A few years ago, there was an incident.
It involved Yamashita and Kurosawa. However, there were hardly any people left to even call it the ‘Kurosawa family,’ so it was more accurate to say it was related to the internal matters of Yamashita’s family.
And that was mostly about ‘Kurosawa Kosuzu,’ the woman who had almost singlehandedly caused the incident.
The cause was that sister, Kagami, had run away with her daughter—who was, in short, that girl, Koto Ne.
Yohei had a guess about the cause. Even though he hadn’t seen it himself, he had heard something.
And he thought it was enough of a reason to run away.
“Ultimately, that woman only intended to use us.”
Yohei murmured to himself.
There were many faithful to that cult in the Yamashita family. The gang members believed that the religion had ‘effects.’
And indeed, Kosuzu had helped solve a few incidents.
But the woman called Kurosawa Kosuzu was far more unpredictable than one would imagine, and after that incident years ago, she had completely drifted away.
As if she thought all she had to do was find that ‘lost’ child.
“Keep an eye out.”
“Yes, brother.”
Yohei said that not simply for human reasons. After all, she wasn’t someone who had suddenly disappeared and reappeared after several years.
It would be better to keep watching her state than be completely oblivious.
Yohei turned his head back and peeked into the restaurant.
Kagami was still looking at the menu while holding her daughter on her lap. The expression on her face seemed much brighter than before.
Looking at her, she was still just a kid after all, but…
That daughter, Koto Ne felt a bit different.
The child, who had been sitting next to Kagami, clambered onto her mother’s lap when she saw Yohei entering the shop.
As if she was determined to protect her.
Kagami tried to set the child beside her, but the child, who couldn’t have eaten properly in days, held on with all her might and stared at Yohei’s face until the very end of the conversation.
She must be around three years old now.
“…”
Was she simply bold?
Or was there really something different about her compared to other children?
Yohei thought he’d wait and see.
*
Didn’t they say Japanese cash goes up to 10,000 yen bills?
So it’s like saying Korea has 100,000 won bills.
Even ten 10,000 yen bills aren’t that thick when stacked together. So if there’s a ‘bundle’ of these 10,000 yen bills, that really amounts to a significant sum.
The money Kagami received from Yamashita-san seemed to be at least that much.
“Look, Koto Ne!”
Kagami, carrying me as she entered our new house, said with sparkling eyes.
“This is the house we’ll live in from now on! What do you think? How is it?”
Even Kagami, who had been so scared in front of Yamashita-san, was now excited as she looked around the house, hugging me tightly.
“Yeah, this is enough for two people!”
Kagami put me down on the floor.
Then she sat down and matched her gaze with mine, with a thrilled expression, she said, “And, Koto Ne, you might even be able to go to kindergarten. With the extra money… of course, that’s borrowed money that we’ll eventually pay back, but for now!”
Holding my hands tightly while shaking them up and down, that face looked so innocent and pure.
“What do you think, Koto Ne?”
Hesitating for a moment to answer that, I replied, “Mom, you’re amazing!”
Kagami’s movement, tightly gripping my hands, abruptly halted.
Did I make a mistake? As I quietly looked up at her face, Kagami once again pulled me into a tight embrace.
“Thank you, Koto Ne. My one and only precious daughter.”
Kagami whispered in my ear, “I’m not there yet, but I’ll definitely become a great mom worthy of that title.”
…But it was sincere.
At that age, isn’t it amazing how someone gives their all just to save their daughter?
Kagami held me close and sobbed for a long while.
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