Tetsu no Sosuke looked a little lost.
"Do you want to talk to him?" Kanae asked, her cheeks faintly pink.
Tetsu no Sosuke nodded at once. Kanae moved closer so he could rest his cheek against her belly.
He opened his mouth toward her belly, but no words came out. At last, he asked Kanae, "What should I say?"
"Whatever you want." Kanae didn't know whether to laugh or cry. "He can't tell what you're saying yet. We don't even know if he can hear you."
"He can. I know he can!"
Tetsu no Sosuke had no scientific basis for saying so. He simply believed it with all his heart.
He racked his brain for a while, then murmured to Kanae's belly, "Hello? Is anyone in there? I'm your dad."
Kanae tried to hold back her laughter at first, but soon she was laughing so hard her whole body shook.
Tetsu no Sosuke looked mortified. "It's my first time talking to a baby in the womb. Sorry I didn't do a very good job."
"..."
Kanae didn't know whether to laugh or cry. Then she leaned in and kissed his forehead.
Tetsu no Sosuke froze for a moment and looked at her.
Kanae held his face in her hands and asked earnestly, "Do you still feel hopeless?"
Tetsu no Sosuke shook his head.
"Right now, our child and I can't help you in a fight," Kanae said. "But we'll be waiting for you at home. Whatever happens, don't lose hope. You still have us... and Shinobu."
She spoke with such conviction that Tetsu no Sosuke slowly nodded, just as solemnly.
When he had come into this world, the parents he had inherited were already dead.
His only family had been Kanae, right here before him, and his sister-in-law, Shinobu Kocho.