"Huh? Why are you back again? Didn't you say you were going out?" Shizuka's mother asked in confusion, startled by her behavior.
"What's wrong? Is something out there? Did you see a ghost?" she joked, trying to peer outside.
But Ryota's mother grabbed her best friend's shoulders, so excited that she could barely speak coherently, her voice kept extremely low but trembling uncontrollably:
"Not a ghost! It's... it's my pig! That silly pig of mine!
He... he's finally caught on! He's learned to woo a girl!
My goodness! Did you see? Right across the street! They're holding hands! She's even holding his arm! Oh my goodness!"
Shizuka's mother grew dizzy from being shaken and was even more bewildered. "What are you talking about, pigs and girls? Miyoko, what on earth do you mean? Which silly son?"
She had not connected the word "son" with Ryota Kudo, who should have been resting at the hotel right then, at all.
Yet Shizuka Kudo, standing beside them, stiffened almost imperceptibly the instant she heard the key words "Ryota," "Eri," and "holding hands."
An exceedingly complicated emotion flashed across her face-surprise, a trace of indescribable loss and bitterness, as though a treasure she had quietly cherished for a long time had suddenly ended up cradled in someone else's hands.
But that emotion passed in a flash, almost too quickly to catch.
She took a deep breath, and her eyes swiftly regained their calm, even taking on a gentle look of acceptance.
She understood Ryota better than either mother did, and knew Eri's feelings more clearly, too. It seemed this moment had long since played out in her subconscious.
She said nothing, merely walking silently to the display window and looking outside, skillfully using the mannequins and clothing racks as cover.
The golden sunset fell