We brought her home, but we had no idea how to treat Shii.
First of all, Dad had the most ambiguous expression.
He was doing a great job as the head of our little “family,” and both Kagami and I relied on him to some extent, but we were basically just pretending to be a family.
We had never forced ourselves to cross any unspoken boundaries. Dad didn’t meddle between Kagami and me, and neither did we interfere with his personal matters.
Dad maintained a comfortable demeanor, like a guest in our home. Rather than trying to put on that attitude, it felt like he had completely adapted and it just came naturally now.
Sometimes he’d leisurely read a book on solving Go problems; maybe there was someone at work he played Go with?
…The story’s a bit heavy, but anyway, our ‘household’ is quite special in many ways, so I wasn’t sure how Shii would adapt. Whether we’d continue keeping her was still uncertain.
Me, Kagami, and Shii were all girls. If anything went wrong in this house, the one who’d be in the most trouble would be Dad.
“……”
In reality, Dad stood a little apart with an expression that clearly showed he didn’t know what to do now that Shii was in the house.
“Shii-chan.”
Shii followed Sota home but didn’t come closer to us. It wasn’t a complete rejection, but still…
Kagami glanced at Dad and me, thought for a moment, then said, “How about we first get her cleaned up?”
Shii stared blankly at Kagami.
Now that I looked closely, her hair was matted. Her face, arms, and legs had been somewhat wiped down with wet wipes, but there was still dirt, and her nails looked jagged and uneven. How many times had she picked at them?
Somehow, I felt like it wasn’t just simply anxiety that caused her state. It was more like she wanted to eat something, but there was nothing available.
“……”
I snapped back to reality and found myself standing next to Dad. I was agreeing to let Shii come into the house and protect her, but I had no clue how to treat her.
Kagami took Shii to wash up, and I hurried upstairs to grab my clothes.
*
Although she was quite skinny, Shii was still a pretty girl. Looking closer, she resembled Sota a bit.
We had dinner a little earlier than usual. When Shii saw the food set in front of her, her eyes widened, and she started shoveling it into her mouth, coughing multiple times.
It was the behavior of someone who hadn’t seen food in a long while.
What kind of meals had she been having?
How had she survived?
If I were in Shii’s situation, I surely wouldn’t have been able to endure it.
Dad watched her like a deer caught in headlights during dinner, and once we finished eating, he went outside briefly.
“……”
While Kagami was clattering around doing the dishes, I sat awkwardly with Shii in the living room.
Perhaps due to her full stomach, Shii seemed a bit less wary. Although she hadn’t completely let her guard down, it seemed she realized for now, we had no intention of hurting her.
The clothes Shii wore were slightly big on her but fit well enough.
Our living room was a traditional sit-on-the-floor type with no separate sofa. We sat awkwardly at a distance across the table.
Um.
I picked up the remote and turned on the TV.
I flipped through the usual channels. There should be some cartoons on at this time.
Once I switched to an animated film, Shii’s eyes glued to the TV, jaw dropped wide open.
The topic of child abuse is not hard to recognize, even without searching for it. In fact, if a major incident occurred, it would be on the news and splattered all over various internet sites.
When a child is abused in a household dominated by adults, there’s nothing that child can do. They can’t sit back and enjoy cartoons, eat ice cream during summer, or lounge around in the kotatsu during winter.
Shii’s past was something only she could reveal, but just looking at the bruises on her body suggested her life had not been easy.
Nevertheless, watching her gape at the TV was somewhat reminiscent of a child her age.
I carefully held the remote out of reach and passed it towards her. When the remote entered her peripheral vision, she flinched and raised her hands to her head, but upon seeing I was just holding it, she hesitated and lowered her hands.
Then, blinking, she looked at me before reaching for the remote.
“This is how you change the channel.”
I pressed the arrow button on the remote. The channel went one up, then back down one. Shii blinked and began to follow my lead, changing the channels around.
Eventually, after a short search, we landed back on the animation channel.
Shii, mouth agape, staring at the TV seemed to lighten the mood significantly.
As we were passing time like that, ding dong, the doorbell rang.
Bang bang.
Immediately after, there was a knocking sound on the door.
Shii flinched at the knocking sound, which made her shoulders jump.
As I stood up, “Koto Ne.”
Kagami approached, still wearing her apron, seemingly having left the dishes halfway done.
“It’s okay. Just stay seated.”
Kagami had a look that indicated she knew who was outside.
[Shii!]
A woman’s voice, sharp and demanding, came from outside the door.
Shii’s shoulders shrank even further.
Kagami, with a stiff expression, walked toward the entrance.
What to do?
With Shii right beside me, could I go check on Kagami? I thought for a brief moment about leaving her alone, but at the same time, the sight of Shii’s state made it hard to gather the courage to leave her by herself.
The entrance door opened, and I could hear them talking. Kagami spoke calmly, but the woman began to raise her voice gradually.
“So that girl is my daughter!”
Then she yelled out.
Had she heard something from Sota’s father?
“……”
It seemed Kagami was pondering how to respond to that.
After all, Kagami was the mother of the girl.
My mom.
That’s why she had to think carefully about her answer.
There could be a small chance this was all a misunderstanding.
Even if it wasn’t a misunderstanding, the woman might not be at fault.
There could be many overlapping factors. If Kagami had raised me without fleeing, she would have assumed I’d be alright.
Wouldn’t there still be some love in her heart? I’m sure Kagami would think that way.
But that didn’t improve the situation.
Next, I heard a man’s voice.
“Hey, lady—”
He tried to say something but was interrupted midway.
Unable to hold back, I jumped up.
I was about to bolt for the entrance but paused to check on Shii, still huddled in the corner.
Shii seemed to be so unwilling to hear her mother’s voice that she tightly shut her eyes and covered her ears with her hands.
“Stay here. Don’t go anywhere.”
I spoke in a trembling voice before rushing towards the entrance.
Thud.
I shut the living room door behind me, making sure Shii wouldn’t hear the unfolding confrontation.
“Koto Ne?”
Kagami was slightly flustered, but I stood in front of her as a barrier.
“Ha.”
The guy who had been talking looked down at me with a smirk.
“You two sure look alike. Lady… um, you might be too young for that, huh? Anyway, don’t meddle in other people’s business. You might get into some strange trouble and be wrongly accused of something odd.”
The man gazed between me and Kagami, grinning.
“Think about your daughter. If you’re both—”
“What about if we’re both?”
A deep voice interjected.
The man blinked once and turned around.
It was Dad, holding a plastic bag stuffed with snacks from the convenience store branded with the logo prominently displayed.
The man’s eyes widened in surprise.
“Hey, buddy—”
Dad approached slowly with a deep voice.
The man unconsciously stepped to the side in front of the entrance.
Dad walked toward me and stopped in front of the man.
“Go on, continue what you were saying. What were you going to say?”
“……”
The man looked at Dad with a somewhat bewildered expression.
Perhaps sensing something about Dad’s line of work was not ordinary due to the typical scum-bloke instincts.
“…Wow.”
The man raised his hands defensively.
“I didn’t come here to cause any trouble. I just want to take my daughter back. I heard she’s here in this house. I don’t know the circumstances, but maybe she was kidnapped or something.”
“Kidnapped.”
A vein throbbed on Dad’s temple. Wow, Dad’s really been dealing with a lot today. An event like this can go a whole year without happening.
“Then what you’ve done is child abuse, right? If not, then you must be guilty of something.”
Dad said.
“…You’re in the unfavorable position here, you know?”
“That might be true.”
Dad kept looking at the man with a flat expression.
“It may not be.”
That line was something the man wouldn’t understand.
We had people watching our backs.
As long as that uncle was here, Yamashita likely would be informed somehow. He’d know where we lived and what we might be caught up in. Even if we were under government surveillance, the Yakuza were always in such situations.
Also, it was true there were others who were… well, ‘protecting’ us because of my worth.
But even so, the man seemed to have taken that message his own way.
Dad said to the fuming man, “Hey, buddy. Wouldn’t it be more of a hassle if you called the police? You’d be in trouble for something else, and your face doesn’t exactly shout innocence.”
No lies there.
But speaking as if I were a hardened detective without mentioning the Yakuza felt strange.
“……”
The man looked increasingly hostile, but he didn’t attack us.
Dad paused as if he was scrutinizing something. Then he looked back at the man.
“I don’t think you have anyone backing you, so why not avoid making it difficult for each other?”
Dad suggested, hunching slightly.
Then in a quiet voice, almost like a huge carnivore lurking for prey, he said, “You didn’t want to raise your kids, did you?”
The man’s expression shifted in a subtle way. It didn’t seem he was angry but rather trying to gauge what Dad was getting at.
Kagami seemed to gather herself and finally spoke up.
“Even if Shii is here, you shouldn’t have a problem getting child support… he seems to be someone who values their pride.”
Kagami whispered quietly.
The man and woman blinked, as if they both suddenly understood something.
*
“…I don’t think this will cause any major issues.”
Dad spoke softly to Kagami.
“There’s someone clearly watching us right now.”
“Yes, I know.”
Kagami appeared completely unfazed. Both of them spoke with a tone that suggested they were not ordinary individuals.
…Not sure if that was something to be proud of. They felt like characters out of an overly exaggerated Japanese comedy-drama. Or maybe a gag manga.
“…Will it be okay for Shii to stay here?”
“There’s not a drop of blood connecting me either.”
Dad looked at me. He had an expression that seemed to seek my agreement.
“…”
Without saying a word, I walked into the living room.
In the corner of the room, Shii was trembling.
Seeing such a state, how could I not want to protect her?
Moreover, I still had a lingering thought about Shii’s name.
Could it be a clue to the world I was in? …I thought I might need to confirm this a bit more.
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