Chapter 126

After cleaning the house, all that was left was the mourning hall where my parents had left behind.

Haihara remembers being terrified of death when she was a child.

I'm also very afraid of when my parents will pass away.

So she would tirelessly ask them what would happen if they died, and what she should do.

Most of the answers were about decades into the future, even though Haihara hasn't lived that long yet.

But there were some things that Haihara did as well.

For example, her parents might want to remain in the house after they die, requiring only a portrait and not frequent visits, as that would be too much trouble. Visiting every few years would be sufficient.

So every year when Haihara back to her hometown to clean the house, she can also visit her parents.

Entering the room where her parents used to live, Haihara soon saw their portraits displayed there.

She carefully closed the door, preventing Kougami from seeing her for the time being.

She took out her newly bought handkerchief and carefully picked up her parents' portraits, gently wiping them.

She wiped very slowly.

While wiping, he calmly muttered to himself:

"Ten years have passed. Thinking about it carefully... I seem to be almost thirty."

Her birthday will be shortly after the start of the next semester.

By then, she would be twenty-eight years old, one step closer to thirty.

More than ten years have passed since she was a high school student.

To be honest, I feel somewhat sorry for my parents.

She has never been in a relationship and probably will never get married.

"You left so fast, I can hardly remember anything."

Many things from that period were somewhat blurry in Haihara's mind; even the faces of her parents had become like old photos with filters, only becoming clear again at this moment.

Like a dream.

After all, everything passed by too quickly after their deaths.

During that time, she also considered taking her own life, because at that time, it was very tiring to live alone.

Fortunately, she didn't give up.

Haihara glanced at the black and white figure in the photograph:

"I didn't bring Kiriori this year, but I brought Kougami. She's changed a lot since then, hasn't she?"

Sometimes, Haihara finds these conversations rather strange.

If spirits truly exist in the heavens, are they omnipresent, or do they only exist near the physical body?

Haihara thinks it's probably everywhere.

But she would still speak in a place where she felt closer to her parents.

"I still haven't found someone to marry this year, and I don't even know if the person I like is interested in me. She's a very elegant and gentle music teacher, just like Aunt Yuriko used to be."

Aunt Yuriko was the older sister next door to Haihara when she was a child, and she was also a music teacher.

That teacher often spent time with her and would even bring her cakes.

Haihara really likes that older sister.

However, that woman eventually moved away, just like most people you encounter in life.

When she thinks about the past, Haihara always feels a sense of loss.

"That's not all. Starting this year, I became a homeroom teacher."

"The results weren't very good in the end, and there were a few Problem Child, which made things very difficult for me."

After wiping the photo clean, she gently stroked it.

Now, she is an ordinary high school teacher, earning a modest salary every day, and worrying about various issues in her class.

The happiest thing was drinking with the female classmate who taught music.

The unpleasant thing was that students were reprimanded by their superiors for skipping classes.

"I still... haven't become a very successful person, and apart from my daughter, I haven't met anyone who really likes me."

"Sometimes I feel very lonely..."

She lived a life as expected, without any surprises.

Lonely, bored, and depressed.

She had no one to confide in, except her deceased parents, about these emotions and thoughts.

After waiting in the living room for a while, Kougami saw Haihara come out of the room.

After visiting her parents, Haihara's expression remained calm, though slightly more melancholic than usual.

Haihara's face showed no trace of the sorrow of being separated from her loved ones for many years.

After looking up and seeing Kougami Kage, Haihara was silent for a moment. Her eyelids drooped, as if she were thinking or recalling something, then she looked up again and said softly:

"You used to play house with me here all the time, remember?"

After Kougami Kage visited her home once, they often played together, and Kougami Kage visited her home quite a few times.

"Of course I remember."

Back then, they would play house, just like other girls.

She is the husband, Haihara the wife.

We even talked about getting married back then.

Haihara would often take advantage of the time when the others were playing house to act cute and tell her things that made her unhappy.

After the cleaning was completely finished, the two of them sat on the sofa, leaning against each other, just sitting there, saying nothing and doing nothing.

The room, freshly dusted, was very quiet.

Kougami Kage sat there without saying a word, but her hand slowly moved towards Haihara until she gently grasped her childhood friend's hand.

Then, she carefully lowered her body over, pressed her cheek against Haihara's soft hair, and gently kissed it. Then, she slowly wrapped her arms around Haihara.

Haihara paused for a moment, then looked up.

But the clumsy woman only pressed closer, like a dim-witted big dog, rubbing against her with her cool skin and hair, and then whispered:

"... That's how it was when I was little."

Chapter Sixty-One Things

During her high school years, Kougami Kage chose to go abroad and left Haihara.

At first, she thought this was just a difficult and bitter separation. Once she achieved what she wanted abroad, she could fulfill a promise they made when they were children, and then she could formally propose to Haihara without hesitation.

The time they spent apart was indeed very long, as if she were the only person left in the world. She could only find some comfort when she called or emailed Haihara.

Kougami Kage felt that she was doing something meaningful.

Later, Haihara contacted her less and less, took longer and longer to reply to emails, and rarely answered the phone, which made Kougami Kage begin to doubt himself.

After all these years, she still hasn't achieved anything...

Does Lily no longer trust her?

Did everything I did make Lily lose patience and become disappointed in me?

Driven by this anxiety and unease, Kougami worked harder and harder, and her contact with Haihara began to decrease. She began to bury herself in her research, hoping to achieve the results she wanted as soon as possible.

Before they knew it, she and Haihara had reached the age to go to university.

And then, she succeeded.

During that time, she was overjoyed and couldn't wait to share her success and happiness with Lily.

However, she did not receive the same joyful response from Haihara.

On the contrary, after learning of her success in her research in Europe, Haihara's tone when speaking to her revealed a sense of dejection.

This puzzled Kougami.

She even felt wronged and angry, not understanding why Lily was so indifferent.

She had a falling out with Haihara and didn't contact her for a long time afterward.

Until one day, she inadvertently learned that Haihara's parents had passed away shortly after she left.

After that, Haihara lived alone.

He worked alone, went to college alone, and never told her any of these things.

Kougami Kage realized that he had been doing something idiotic all these years.

After cleaning the house, Haihara and Kougami Kage went outside to find a place to have lunch.

There aren't any really good restaurants in this old town area.

So many years have passed, and most of the shops from my childhood memories have changed. There are no familiar people or familiar faces.

This is quite normal. At least in the previous few years, Haihara and Kiriori would just randomly pick some unknown small shops to eat at, as long as they could fill their stomachs.

But after driving around for a while, Kougami unexpectedly found a familiar shop not far from his home.

A shop that sells oden (Japanese stew).

They used to often buy oden here after school; it's a very fond memory.

Although the sign and curtains have been replaced with new ones, Kougami Kage can still recognize them.

As Kougami Kage led Haihara into the store, she didn't notice that Haihara hesitated for a moment, as if she were somewhat dazed. However, Haihara quickly regained her composure and obediently followed Kougami Kage into the store.

The owner is a young man, not the middle-aged man with an accent from before, but the price of oden doesn't seem to have increased; it's as if everything is still the same as it was back then.

It's a really small shop, probably only big enough for five or six people to sit in.

Kougami Kage and Haihara sat down, watching the skewers simmering in the hot broth, white steam rising from them. Although such a scene was common in the city, it evoked a very special feeling.

When Haihara was a child, she thought the smell of oden was strange.

It could also be that the sauce tastes strange.

It wasn't until she tasted it for the first time that she gradually got used to the smell.

It was only later that I discovered that not all oden has this smell.

The crab pieces were placed on a plate, and the broth dripped onto the sauce. Haihara didn't eat them quickly, but instead dipped them repeatedly, as if she were in a daze.

She remembered that on the day her parents passed away, she didn't eat anything until she felt very hungry, at which point she had to go out and find a restaurant to fill her stomach.

At that time, she found a place near her home that served oden (Japanese stew).

The taste of oden will certainly not change.

It was generally delicious; the crab skewers were very tasty, and the sauce was also very good, but Haihara couldn't quite figure out what it tasted like. After eating a few skewers, she didn't want to eat anymore.

As for now, she has a normal appetite.

"Does it taste the same as before?"

Kougami Kage asked.

Haihara nodded.

It tasted pretty much the same as I remembered. In fact, it wouldn't be that bad, no matter how bad it was. You just need to cook the ingredients, and all the ingredients are available in the supermarket.

So, nothing has changed.

"..."

Haihara remained silent and took a bite of the tofu.