Chapter 419

Kazama Kiriori spoke in a very gentle tone, then continued to look at her notes and past exam questions.

I've heard that Kazama Kiriori is an exceptionally talented person.

She is intelligent and quick-witted, and can do everything neatly and beautifully. There is nothing that others envy about her but that she is not good at.

After spending time with her, Haihara felt the same way.

"If the teacher gets bored, they can chat with me while I study. Anyway, I'm just doing some problems I've already done to keep myself from slacking off."

The other person seemed quite relaxed and at ease.

Since that's the case, Haihara felt she no longer needed to be so careful to keep quiet.

She separated the orange segments.

Then, I ate it segment by segment:

"Doesn't it feel strange to call me 'teacher' now? Didn't we have any other way of addressing each other before?"

Kazama Kiriori paused for a moment.

Since they were both sitting on the sofa, Haihara could sense Kazama Kiriori's reaction even without looking to the side.

Then, Kazama Kiriori quickly regained her composure:

"I have great respect for you, teacher, so it's difficult for me to use any other form of address. Isn't that how everyone else feels too?"

That's undeniable.

Although Haihara herself felt that she was the same age as Kuroki Yuka, their way of addressing their teacher had never changed.

For Haihara herself, being called "teacher" is quite strange.

Without realizing it, Haihara started peeling the orange a little faster.

The orange was eaten quickly.

After that, Haihara started peeling the orange herself.

She thought to herself: It's a lie.

However, she didn't press the matter further, as that would be both impolite and unnecessary.

I'm very curious, but I think there will be a chance to find out the truth later.

Spending time with Kazama Kiriori didn't seem to take long at all.

Before, I stayed indoors all the time and didn't have a chance to go out, which was quite boring at times.

After that, when Kazama Kiriori a little tired of studying, she suddenly suggested that they watch a movie or TV series together.

Haihara readily agreed.

When Kazama Kiriori changed into more comfortable clothes and returned to the sofa with a blanket, Haihara was pressing the remote control, looking for a program to watch.

Ten years later, television seems to have become very advanced.

As long as you pay, you can freely choose which TV series or movies to watch.

No more switching between channels that don't interest me.

"Hmm... how about this one, and that one?"

Of course, Haihara chose the program herself.

Haihara muttered to herself as she looked at each movie cover, trying to see which one featured a beautiful woman.

The snow and wind outside were still painting the city outside the window with a hazy, gray hue, and the chill inside made the girl's toes shiver slightly.

At that moment, Kazama Kiriori, holding a thick blanket, spread it out and covered Haihara with it as if taking care of a child, while Haihara was still pressing the remote control.

After that, Kazama Kiriori paused for a moment.

Finally, she crawled into the blanket that Haihara had been using, pretending it was natural, and shared the same blanket with Haihara.

Haihara, on the other hand, pretended to still be focused on choosing programs.

However, upon closer inspection, it becomes clear that she is simply pressing buttons randomly on the remote control and is completely distracted.

When she and her mother finally shared the same blanket, just like before, Kazama Kiriori felt a sense of peace as she felt the warmth of the girl beside her under the blanket.

She went from being slightly tense to relaxing a little.

She planned to cherish this time watching TV, since it had been a long time since she had enjoyed this since her mother shrank.

Kazama Kiriori picked up a few oranges from the coffee table in front of her, intending to peel them for her mother later.

Just then, Haihara seemed to have finally picked something she wanted to watch.

That was an animation.

"How about this one...?"

Haihara was about to ask, Kazama Kiriori blurted out:

"Ah, that won't do."

Kazama Kiriori has watched that anime.

"What's wrong?"

She said it quite naturally:

You probably wouldn't like that.

Kazama Kiriori broke off a segment of orange and ate it.

For Kazama Kiriori, her mother was sometimes very willful.

She can be so willful at times that she's like a little girl who needs to be coaxed.

On one occasion, because Kazama Kiriori Haihara Haihara didn't like, Haihara was very cold towards Kazama Kiriori for the rest of the day.

"Oh."

Haihara nodded, then looked at the others.

The two eventually found something they could watch together.

Next, although to Kazama Kiriori, her mother had become smaller, transforming from a tall and mature woman into a girl whom Kazama Kiriori felt she needed to protect.

But at this moment, Kazama Kiriori felt that the woman's scent beside her was still very familiar.

When the two of them were covered with a blanket and shared each other's warmth, Kazama Kiriori naturally felt a long-lost sense of security and wanted to rely on Haihara's side.

She glanced furtively at the slender girl beside her several times.

However, they ultimately resisted the urge to sneak over.

This feeling of suppressed instinct persisted until the end credits rolled on television.

At this moment, Haihara Lily Chou opened her mouth, as if she was wondering whether or not to speak.

"Um, may I ask something?"

"Uh-huh?"

For some reason, Kazama Kiriori seemed to have already guessed what her mother was going to ask.

She heard the voice of a girl, both unfamiliar and familiar, beside her:

"What was our relationship before? Were we just good teacher and student?"

This was an easy question for Kazama Kiriori to answer.

But for her now, she doesn't want to give Haihara a direct answer, nor does she want to tell her the truth.

Her beautiful, dark eyes blinked slightly as she looked at Haihara with her eyes half-closed.

What kind of lie should be told here?

"If I said, like Kirishima and the others, that I used to be your girlfriend, would you believe me?"

Kazama Kiriori said with a smile.

Aside from her mother, Kazama Kiriori has always been quite mature and composed.

It's easy to imagine that other Magic girls have said similar things many times before.

This time, it also sounds like a joke by Kazama Kiriori.

However, Haihara then gave a serious and concise answer:

"Believe."

"There's nothing I can do if you don't believe me..."

Kazama Kiriori stopped mid-sentence.

She looked at the girl to the side with a blank expression.

The girl repeated it again:

I said I believed it.

Have I misunderstood something?

She became somewhat insecure because of Kazama Kiriori's reaction.

Kazama Kiriori's expression shifted from stiff to somewhat confused, and she couldn't help but begin to explain to Haihara:

"Um, did something you heard from Kirishima cause you to misunderstand something? Teacher, you're not the kind of person who would have multiple girlfriends at the same time."

She tried to figure out if Haihara had made a mistake.

Haihara lowered her head as she watched Kazama Kiriori explain, then nervously touched her neck.

"... What I mean is, I only believe what you said."

For a moment, the living room fell into a deathly silence.

The movie's end credits song was still playing on television.

Kazama Kiriori, who was initially at ease, now seems at a loss for what to do.

She asked a dry, curt question—

Why do you think that?

After asking the question, even she herself thought it was incredibly stupid.

As expected, Haihara seemed a little embarrassed.

After a while, she finally gave her answer:

"Because I don't know why, the moment I saw you, I felt that you were the most special person to me."

"..."

If it weren't for the movie's long end credits, you could probably hear Kazama Kiriori right now.

Even her breathing became a little faster.

Kazama Kiriori needs to calm down quickly.

The problem is, she's Haihara's real daughter, not one of those Magic girl juniors who want to pretend to be her girlfriend.

"So, what you just said was true?"

Haihara moved a little closer.

At this distance Kazama Kiriori could feel the other person's breath.

Calm down, calm down.

Kazama Kiriori feigned composure.

"Well... but you don't remember anymore, so there's nothing we can do about it."

She wanted to brush it off for now.

Rather than telling Haihara their true relationship, maintaining their trust through this lie before their mother regains her memories is, for Kazama Kiriori, more about...

At that moment, Kazama Kiriori's words were exactly what Haihara to hear.

The girl, who usually had a blank expression, slowly moved in front of Kazama Kiriori, gazing intently at her with her cold, indifferent eyes.