Chapter 8 - Mother"s homecoming (2)
Translator - Vodka
I am caught up in an infinite loop for being late by a day. Let"s hope that vodka can solve this problem soon.
The shopping district dyed in the colour of the dusk.
What laid before me, was a street. Students who were returning home or housewives who were out shopping would walk down this street a lot. If you headed eastwards after crossing this street, you would find the Sakurno-oka station that the denizens of this town would normally use.
It was a small building with a ticket gate and a few personnel.
There were only a few shops at this station, and it was mostly used by commuting office goers or students.
At this moment, I was waiting for a certain woman at the station, but I wasn"t alone. Shizuku and Kirasaka had both decided to join me. The three of us were waiting at the northern gate of the station.
“……You guys really came”
“I want to greet Kotone-san too. I haven"t seen her in a while”
“If it"s Shinrkun"s mother, then I too need to greet her. She had always been taking care of Shinrkun. I must extend my grat.i.tude to her for that”
Shizuku and Kirasaka expressed their reasons for tagging along, respectively. They were sat on the bench by the side of the vending machine, their line of sight directed at the station gate.
Shizuku"s reason was very normal, but Kirasaka"s was, as usual, a little strange. Specifically, that last bit.
"My mom looking after me is only natural…… Are you thinking of me as one of your properties?"
"Ara, did you notice that only now?"
Kirasaka replied, unfazed. It was as if I had talked about something obvious. She turned to look at me and tilted her head in confusion.
I had nothing to say at her anymore.
"Anyways, when I first heard that Kotone-san would be coming back, I was surprised"
"Same here"
The Kotone-san Shizuku was speaking of, was my mother. Shinra Kotone.
Approximately two months ago, she had departed from j.a.pan to take care of my dad, who was working overseas now.
I had heard that the next time she would return, was during dad"s summer vacation.
I heard the sound of the train reaching the platform. I searched for the figure of my mother in the crowd of people coming out of the station.
In the mail that followed the phone call to Kaede, she had mentioned the time of her arrival at the airport and the station. That was why I have been waiting here for like this. However, there wasn"t any sign of her coming out of the station whatsoever.
"……She"s late. Should I return?"
"That"s no good! Kaede-chan had asked you to properly receive her too, remember?”
"That"s right. Besides, we are here because Kaede-chan had asked us to accompany you so that you don"t return because you thought it was troublesome"
I was about to stand up from the bench, but the two girls grabbed my hands and forced me to sit back down.
After the call from Kaede during today"s" lunch break, Shizuku and Kirasaka received a message from her.
Kaede had asked them if they could accompany me to the station to receive my mother, who was returning home. They had readily consented to that.
As a result of that, the three of us were here now, sitting side by side like people who got along well.
I wondered why you would need three people for this. I could have come down to the station by myself.
The appearances of these two girls attracted the attention of most of the males, while the females looked at our direction suspiciously. There was nothing good about this situation.
I wanted to meet up with my mother as soon as possible and depart from this place at the earliest.
However, things weren"t going to go so well, huh.
In the first place, she was a little bit of a peculiar personality. She wouldn"t turn up before us like a normal person.
There was a possibility that she could be coming back home early because she wanted to delve in her mischievous ways.
My mother was a troublesome character.
"However, she is running late by thirty minutes from the designated time……don"t you think she just took a different path back home?"
"Hmm……do you think so?"
It was way past the scheduled time.
Several people had come out of the station already. However, unlike the ones in the cities, this station wasn"t as busy. So, there wasn"t a possibility of us missing out on her exiting the station.
"……I will check with Kaede"
"That would be for the better" (Kirasaka)
I got up from the bench and put some distance between myself and the girls to make the call. Then suddenly, darkness spread before me.
"Guess who~!"
……What a cliched event
I wondered how the person who came up with this behaviour for the first time in the world had such an idea. He must have been thinking about fantastical stuff all the time.
The voice of a female came from behind me, and someone had covered up my eyes. I could feel two soft sensations on my back.
Clearly, she was pushing her chest against my back on purpose. Her voice sounded like someone was whispering into your ears. I have heard it every day since the day I was born.
I realized who it was in an instant and sighed thirty per cent more than usual.
"……What are you doing, mom?"
"Ara~ Minato-kun is cold as always. It"s ok to say "Mother!" and give me a hug, you know"
"Who"s going to do that……"
She extracted her hands and detached herself from me. Then, she turned to stand before the three of us and smiled broadly.
"I am back, Minato-chan. Long-time no see too, Shizuku-chan"
"Welcome back……" (Minato)
"It has been a while, Kotone-san!"
I took a single step forward and held out my hand to accept the luggage from mom.
Looking at my extended hand, she figured out my intentions and handed over the luggage to me, looking happy.
"Mother loves that part of Minato-chan! Shizuku-chan is cute as always!"
She hugged Shizuku tightly. Shizuku too put her hands around her back and hugged her closely.
While still in embrace, she directed her gaze towards Kirasaka, who had moved next to me, and muttered "Fumu, fumu".
"Is she Minato-kun"s second wife candidate?"
She dropped a bomb without any hesitation.