The Shape of Happiness: A Family Crumbling Due to the Mother's Infidelity, a Wounded Middle School Daughter, and a Struggling Father Finding a New Form of Happiness. - Episode 8
The orange nightlight softly illuminated Aika’s room. Aika was lying on the bed, and beside her, Misaki, with her ponytail undone, was lying on the futon spread out next to the bed.
“Aika… I’m sorry…”
Misaki murmured while staring at the ceiling. Aika turned her body to face Misaki.
“Misaki, you don’t need to apologize.”
“Huh?”
“Misaki didn’t do anything wrong, right?”
“…Yeah… but, she’s my mom…”
“That’s not it.”
“Not it?”
“Misaki is Misaki. Your mom is your mom. Even if you’re family, you’re different people. You shouldn’t let your mom’s mistake drag you down.”
“Aika…”
“No matter what happens, I like you, Misaki. Don’t forget that.”
“…Thank you.”
“Hehehe. Let’s go to the shopping mall by the station tomorrow!”
“Yeah, I’m looking forward to it.”
“Alright! Then let’s go to bed now so we don’t oversleep.”
“Yeah.”
“Misaki.”
“What?”
“Do you want to come over here? We can sleep together. It’s fine, come on.”
Aika smiled and lifted the blanket.
Misaki felt like crying at Aika’s kindness. Aika, who was taking such good care of her after seeing her troubled by not wanting to go home because of her mother’s wrongdoings. Misaki really wanted to sleep next to Aika. She wanted to bury her face in Aika’s chest and cry her heart out. Aika would surely hold her gently. But—
“No, it’s okay. Thank you.”
—Misaki turned down Aika’s invitation.
Thinking about how the bl00d of that mother ran through her veins, Misaki felt she would taint Aika, her precious friend. Fear swirled in her chest, and she couldn’t go to Aika.
“Aika, good night.”
“Yeah. Good night, Misaki.”
Misaki closed her eyes, but the images burned clearly in her mind and heart. Her mother kissing a strange man with a smile. Her mother burying her face happily in a stranger’s lower body.
Misaki pulled the blanket over her head, her body trembling, tears overflowing, and she quietly sobbed.
Aika could do nothing but hear Misaki’s sobs from the blanket. Seeing her friend suffer from her mother’s selfish actions made Aika shed frustrated tears as well.
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The next morning—
“…I’m really sorry…”
Misaki, with a bright red face, deeply bowed to Aika and her father.
“Misaki-chan, it’s okay. Go take a shower.”
“Don’t worry about it, Misaki!”
Aika and her father treated Misaki with kind smiles.
The blanket Misaki had been sleeping in had a large wet stain.
“But… um, about cleaning it up…”
“We’ll take care of it. It’s fine.”
“But… it’s dirty…”
Misaki, with tears in her eyes, was met with a gentle smile from Aika’s father.
“It’s not dirty at all. Leave the rest to me.”
“That’s right! Misaki, go take a shower!”
Encouraged by Aika, Misaki slowly walked toward the bathroom, still hanging her head.
After Misaki left, Aika jumped into her father’s arms, her body shaking.
“Why… why is Misaki… why is she going through this… she hasn’t done anything wrong… why does Misaki have to go through this… why does she have to carry such a burden…”
Her father, holding her tightly, stroked her head.
There were no words to say to comfort his daughter, who was crying over her friend’s pain.
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Under the clear autumn sky, Aika’s father arrived at the parking lot of the nature park where he had talked to Misaki’s father, Shinichi, the previous night. Just like yesterday, he sat in the red minivan, drinking canned coffee.
Beep!
A short honk made him look up, and a deep purple light van stopped nearby. It was Shinichi. He got out of the car and bowed his head to Aika’s father.
“Good morning. Thank you for last night.”
“No, no. I apologize for calling you so suddenly.”
Aika’s father’s face seemed stern, and Shinichi noticed it.
“Um… has something happened to Misaki?”
After a brief pause, Aika’s father let out a small sigh.
“…Does Misaki have any tendencies of enuresis?”
“Enuresis… you mean bedwetting?”
“Yes.”
“No, she doesn’t. Misaki hasn’t had any such problems since she was little… Wait, could it be…?”
Aika’s father’s expression grew disappointed.
“Last night, Misaki wet the bed…”
“What?! I… I’m so sorry!”
“No, no. Don’t apologize. That’s not what I wanted to say. If there’s a tendency for enuresis, it’s something we can’t help. But if it’s not that…”
Shinichi’s face turned pale, and Aika’s father’s expression grew serious.
“I think it could be psychological…”
Shinichi remained silent.
“As long as it’s just bedwetting, it may not be too bad. But if it starts to affect her daily life…”
“Daily life…?”
“She might not be able to hold her urine once she feels the urge. It could lead to accidents during the day.”
Shinichi slumped.
“I think Misaki’s heart has reached its limit.”
“I understand that you want to believe your wife. But is it something worth believing in if it means sacrificing Misaki?”
Shinichi was struck by those words.
“Will you continue being the ‘husband’ who waits for a wife that betrayed you, or will you live as the ‘father’ who holds his daughter gently while she suffers from her family’s betrayal? You don’t have much time to make your choice.”
Shinichi realized that his unclear actions up until now had dragged Misaki into it, and he had been hurting her all along.
He looked up and nodded firmly at Aika’s father. In his heart, only his daughter Misaki mattered now.
The illusion of a marriage built on lies would be shattered, and he would make his daughter, Misaki, happy. That was the new “shape of happiness” Shinichi envisioned.
With this new “shape of happiness” in mind, Shinichi began to make a move.
Meanwhile, Shinichi’s wife, Akiko, was also in search of her own “shape of happiness.” Shinichi, unaware of the changes in Akiko’s life and heart, remained unaware of what was to come.
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