She Is My Mother

After school, Kiryu Yume had barely stepped out of the school building when he saw someone standing beside the vending machine near the school gate.

An off-white long-sleeved hoodie wrapped around her slight frame, her low ponytail resting behind her shoulder. Her oversized black-rimmed glasses covered nearly half her face, and her skin was almost unnaturally pale, like someone who rarely saw the sun. With her head lowered, both hands clenched tightly around her backpack straps, her knuckles had gone white.

She seemed to want nothing more than to shrink into her hoodie and become a shadow. Only when she heard his footsteps did she abruptly look up. Seeing him, some of the tension left her face, though it did not completely disappear. Her lips moved slightly in greeting.

"Let's go," Kiryu Yume said. "What time was your appointment?"

"F-four o'clock..."

Sakura Airi's voice was so soft it was like a mosquito's buzz, as though the wind could scatter it away. When she followed him, she kept half a step behind—not too far, not too close, ready at any moment to retreat back into the shadows.

The two of them walked along the pedestrian path through Keyaki Shopping Center for a while without saying a word.

Kiryu Yume noticed that her steps were getting slower and slower. Glancing sideways, he saw her repeatedly biting her lower lip hard enough to leave marks.

"What's wrong? You look awful."

Sakura Airi did not answer immediately. With her head lowered, she walked a few more steps before suddenly stopping. Her fingers tightened around her backpack strap, loosened, then tightened again, as if she were gathering the greatest courage of her life. After a long while, she finally spoke, her voice even softer than before—so soft he nearly missed it.

"K-Kiryu... you said last time... that... if anything happened, I could come to you... Does that still count?"

Kiryu Yume stopped and turned to look at her. She did not dare raise her eyes, her gaze only reaching his chest. Behind her lenses, her lashes trembled nonstop like the wings of a startled butterfly.

"Lately, someone's been sending me messages."

Sakura Airi's voice came in broken fragments. She had to take a deep breath before every word. "Directly to my phone! No matter how much I think about it, I can't figure out how that person got my number. At first, they only said strange things, but then it got more and more excessive..."

She could not go on. Her throat moved slightly as her hands slipped from her straps, her fingertips twisting together until they nearly formed a knot.

"A-and there are envelopes! Stuffed directly into my mailbox! No signature, no sender, just a white envelope, and inside it says..."

She took a huge breath, trying to suppress the surging fear, but her voice still shook violently.

"It says, 'I know who you are.' It's terrifying. Who on earth is doing this?"

Kiryu Yume did not respond right away. Looking at Sakura Airi, he saw her curled up inside her hoodie, her shoulders drawn inward as if she wanted to fold herself into a tiny piece and hide inside a box. After a few seconds of silence, he softened his tone.

"How long has this been going on? Have you told any teachers at school?"

Sakura Airi quickly shook her head.

"I... I don't know how to say it! That person hasn't actually done anything to me. They've only sent messages and stuffed envelopes into my mailbox... I'm afraid that if I tell someone, they'll watch me even more closely, won't they? What if this turns into a big deal... What am I supposed to do?"

She did not finish, but her meaning was clear enough. She was afraid of bringing trouble upon herself, afraid that the secret she had hidden for so long would no longer stay hidden.

"The phone number was probably leaked from the school system. Or maybe someone sold it through some other channel."

Kiryu Yume paused, then continued as he looked at her pale face. "And the envelopes are even less surprising. The mailbox locks in this dorm building are basically useless. Anyone passing by can shove something inside, right?"

He stepped half a pace closer, his voice steadying further.

"Other than the messages and envelopes, has that person done anything else? Like showing up downstairs from your dorm, or following you? Have you felt like you were being followed?"

Sakura Airi shook her head at first, but then hesitated, her eyes full of uncertainty.

"I'm not sure... Sometimes I always feel like someone is watching me from behind, but every time I turn around, there's no one there... I-I don't know if I'm just too nervous. What if I'm really imagining it?"

Kiryu Yume did not rush to offer some flimsy reassurance like saying she was overthinking it. After two seconds of silence, he took out his phone, opened his contact page, and turned the screen toward her.

"This is my private phone number and room number. Save them both. If anything feels wrong, message me immediately. Any time is fine, even in the middle of the night. Got it?"

Sakura Airi froze. She stared at the words on the screen for a long time before abruptly looking up at him. Her eyes were full of disbelief, and her rims reddened at once. She blinked rapidly several times before forcing back the moisture rising in her eyes.

"R-really? Is it really okay to trouble you this much?"

"This school is already weird enough. What kind of people aren't here?"

Kiryu Yume put away his phone, his tone as casual as if he were talking about the weather. "Some people get expelled for failing an exam. Some can rule a class with their fists. What's strange about having a few perverts around? Now that I've run into this, there's no way I'm just going to ignore it. Why are you trying to endure it all by yourself?"

Sakura Airi lowered her head. Her voice seemed squeezed from her throat, but it carried a tearful tremble.

"Th-thank you... Thank you so much!"

Kiryu Yume did not let her continue thanking him. He turned around and started walking.

"Alright, hurry up. If we keep dawdling, the repair shop will be closed!"

Sakura Airi stood where she was for two seconds before quickly catching up. This time, she walked much closer than before, almost shoulder to shoulder with him.

When the two reached the electronics repair shop, Kiryu Yume saw through the glass door that the owner was standing behind the counter with his head lowered, sorting through something. The wind chime on the door rang, and only then did the owner look up.

Seeing that two people had entered, his gaze paused on Sakura Airi before shifting to Kiryu Yume. His expression visibly darkened for a moment. Kiryu Yume caught that subtle change perfectly. Something was off—this owner's reaction was far too strange.

"Boss, we're here to pick up the camera. The one we sent in for repairs last week."

The owner put down what he was holding and took a paper bag from beneath the counter, but did not hand it over immediately. His gaze swept back and forth between the two of them several times, carrying undisguised probing.

"You two came together?"

"Yeah."

The owner's expression did not change much, but the corners of his mouth clearly turned down. His tone was completely different from when he had received Sakura Airi alone last time, carrying an indescribable air of scrutiny.

"What's your relationship?"

Sakura Airi opened her mouth, but her face went pale at once. She could not force out a single word. How was she supposed to explain this? What could she say that would not be misunderstood?

Kiryu Yume's expression did not change.

"She's my mother."