Chapter 43: Lunch with three

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Translator: Soafp

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[Mother PoV]

“…… yes”

　Haruka replies and I hear her footsteps. Usually she doesn’t come right away when I ask her to reply, or sometimes she doesn’t even reply, but I wonder if it’s because …… Shota is back.

　Soon the door opens and Haruka walks in.

“Where’s Shota?”

“Probably coming soon.”

If she says so, I guess I don’t have to call him anymore.

　Finally, I make tea for the three of us and Haruka takes it.

“….. gorgeous, isn’t it?”

“It has been a long time since Shota was here. Do you want to have sushi for dinner?”

“Oh, I see,……, he is staying till tomorrow, right?”

“Tomorrow we’re all going to visit the cemetery together, right? Is he coming?”

“…… yes.”

　Haruka is not very energetic when she answers that. She has been like that whenever she talks about Shota for a while now. I don’t know why because when I ask her if something is wrong, she just says it’s nothing.

　Let’s talk about that, and about that incident a year ago, today, with the four of us as a family. I have told my husband that I want him to be able to come home early today.

　I guess Shota hates us. But we are a family, and if we talk about it properly, we will be able to be a family again like we used to be. Then tomorrow, we will all go out together. Then we can make up for it.

　–Gacha

　The door opens and Shota slowly enters.

　Then he looks to the side of me, where I’m sitting and waiting, and stops as if in a daze.

　”・・・・・・?”

“…… something wrong?”

“Oh ……, no, I just, …… thought I saw a bug there.”

“Eh!”

“Sorry, I must have been looking in the wrong place.”

“Oh, really? I’m glad ……”

Saying that, I check the back of the now empty seat that Shota was looking at. There is no particular dirt or things falling down there.

In the meantime, Shota sat down in his own seat.

“Then let’s eat.”

“……Thank you for the food”

“Thank you for the food”

　The first meal with Shota in a long time started like that.

“That is right, the school had sent this to me.”

“Oh, …… yeah.”

“It looks like you’re doing well.”

“…….”

That’s all Shota would say when I pulled out the report card sent from the high school that was on the edge of the desk and told him so. It’s been that way ever since we started eating lunch. Whenever I talked about Haruka or him, he would just give me a simple nod of the head. He is eating,…… but he seems to be in a hurry or desperate,…….

“…… Shota, the school is–“

　–Gacha.

The moment I began to speak, I heard the sound of something falling. From the location and the sound, I knew immediately that it was the sound of Shota dropping his bowl.

“Hey, what are you doing!”

“Ah, …….”

“……, are you okay?”

　I looked at Shota to see what he was doing, but he looked somewhat weak and frightened there. The image of Shota in my mind was a far cry from what he looked like.

　He was so scared that I couldn’t even see him.

“I’m sorry …….”

“No, its ……”

　I was speechless with surprise.

　Shota stood up and picked up the bowl he had dropped and wiped the floor with a rag, even though he seemed to have drunk most of the soup in the bowl.

　Then he put the bowl down and went toward the bathroom with the rag in his hand.

　When I looked at Haruka, she looked surprised and concerned.

Then the footsteps coming back from the washroom went straight through the door that he passed through to come to the dining room where we were.

　Eh ……. …… Eh?

　Haruka and I looked at each other again, and we both stood there, unable to say anything.

　After a little while, the footsteps came back. But again he passed by the door, and the footsteps moved away toward the front door.

　That’s when my body finally moved. I hurriedly opened the door and walked quickly toward Shota.

“Shota! What’s wrong!?”

My hand outstretched to Shota, who was already standing there with his bag and shoes on, but he quickly backed away and struck out.

“…… sorry. Tomorrow, the three of you go. I’m …… really, really sorry. I’ll …… call you later. ……”

　After saying that, Shota left as if he was running away.

　–Gachan ……

　The sound of the door closing echoed through the room, and a silence filled with fear.

“……Onii-chan……”

　Haruka murmurs. It was a thin, almost disappearing tone of voice, which made my anxiety even greater.

　After a while, Haruka suddenly started to move, and then she slammed into her room and came back with a small bag.

“…. Haruka?”

“I’m going after Onii-chan!”

　Saying that, Haruka hurriedly put on her shoes and went.

　Left alone in the doorway, I could only stand there, not knowing what to do.

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