A Story About a Handsome Girl Having Her First Kiss Stolen by an Equally Handsome Classmate - Episode 68

November 19th (Friday)

“Shizuku won’t leave her mother behind.”

I woke up in a cold sweat, and Wakamatsu Hanae, who was leaning against the bed, looked up at me in surprise.

“What’s wrong? Did you have a bad dream?”

“……no……”

My mother’s words have always carried weight with me.

Now that we are a family of two, I am the only one who can support my mother. If I leave her behind, she will be left alone. If I am not there for her, she will have to tremble alone. That is what I thought.

“How is it going with your mom these days?”

Wakamatsu closed the book he had been reading and asked a sharp question.

“I wonder… what’s going on?”

“You haven’t talked much?”

“I didn’t dare to bring up my sister.”

I didn’t want to see my mother clinging to me like she did that day.

“Is it difficult to talk?”

How is your mother these days?

I remembered that until Wakamatsu asked me, I hadn’t had a serious conversation with my mother for a long time. I would say hello and see her off, but I had never really talked about my sister.

“Hmm… I guess you could say I’m avoiding him.”

“Why?”

“There’s a phrase that’s always stuck in my mind.”

Don’t embellish, tell the story as it is.

Wakamatsu listens to Mizuhara with a serious look on his face. He always thinks about how grateful he is to have someone who thinks along with him.

“That’s why… I don’t want to see my mother like that anymore.”

Mizuhara looked down and muttered.

“But I was just thinking-“

I looked up at Wakamatsu’s easygoing voice, and our eyes met as she smiled brightly.

“It’s not like Mom had any bad intentions. I think she was just happy that Mizuhara was by her side.”

“picture”

“It was kind of like the last time in Mizuhara…”

I recall Wakamatsu coming to deliver the prints.

How did she treat Mizuhara?

“There’s no need to get depressed about anything.”

The classmate leaned against the bed and scratched his head.

“Well, I guess I was a bit clingy at the time.”

It seems like he is thinking carefully before he speaks.

“I mean, a year has already passed.”

Wakamatsu looked at the calendar. Sure enough, it had been a year since his sister left home.

“Hasn’t your mother changed already?”

“…I guess so.”

“Yes. Enough time has passed.”

Wakamatsu changes his position and faces Mizuhara.

“Come on, Mizuhara.”

He opened his arms and hugged her gently. “That’s right,” Wakamatsu assured her calmly. It was strange, but somehow it felt like the right answer.

“…It’s about my sister.”

While having dinner with my mother, I decided to bring up the topic of my sister.

I cautiously observe my mother sitting next to me, but she doesn’t look as stressed as I expected. She puts down her chopsticks and looks at me with serious eyes.

“Is it okay if I ask what happened after that?”

“Are you okay, Shizuku?”

“Me? I’m fine now, but…”

Mother and daughter look at each other as if trying to figure out each other’s true intentions. Their similarities make each other smile.

“Oh, so my mother was just worrying.”

Mizuhara Shizuku felt relieved. She no longer saw the gloom in her mother’s eyes like she had back then.

Was it I who had neglected to even face my mother? I am grateful to Wakamatsu Kaede for allowing me to talk to my mother face to face. She is an irreplaceable presence who always guides Mizuhara.

” I don’t know where he is right now, but…”ExcellentSuguru

“I found out that she was healthy and had somewhere to live.”

I was taken aback by this initial information.

“Because I received a letter. So I decided not to look for him anymore.”

“…A letter arrived.”

“She’s just like Shizuku, she’s a serious and kind-hearted girl.”

I remember my sister cooking for the family every day when I came home from school. Even on weekends, she would do the housework from morning until night, hardly ever going out to play.

My sister, who was taking nearly the maximum number of classes in her first year of university, apparently submitted a leave of absence application after the summer vacation and was granted a one-year leave of absence. The reason given for the leave of absence was volunteer work or other voluntary activities.Mizuhara YuMizuhara Suguru

It seems that she has been choosing to only take on-demand lectures since the second semester after her leave of absence in October this year. With on-demand lectures, students can earn credits simply by studying the resumes prepared by the professor and submitting assignments. There is no need to attend classes or show up online. I don’t know what kind of argument my sister made, but it seems the university did not try to force my sister and mother to meet.

“Mom decided to wait until the child returned home on his own two feet.”

The mother smiles. The mother she once was, reaching out her hand to the daughter she left behind, is nowhere to be found.

–The fact that my sister is not at home remains unchanged.

However, it feels as though their “unusual” life will slowly return to “ordinary” life. I sensed such a future.