Chapter 111: New Year's Eve, Maki's Uninvited Arrival

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As though sensing everyone’s gaze, Reina Serizawa, who had been delighted by her new clothes, immediately puffed out her cheeks, planted her hands on her hips, and protested indignantly, “What are you all looking at? I’m still going to grow, you know!”

“Yes, yes,” Yasuya replied with an indulgent laugh. “Of course you’re going to grow up, Reina-chan.”

Though that was what he said, he knew perfectly well that Reina’s growth had probably reached its limit. She was already eighteen, yet still looked like a ten-year-old child.

Shaking his head, Yasuya stopped teasing her. Once everyone had arrived, he began assigning the work ahead.

Yui Serizawa and Nadeshiko Kurosai took the initiative to help Sagiri Amemiya prepare dinner in the kitchen, while Reina Serizawa and Saori Amemiya stayed in the living room to clean with Saki Kurosai.

They called it cleaning, but there was not much that actually needed to be done. Before long, the three of them had started playing instead.

They watched movies, played console games, and enjoyed a game of ludo. Their laughter and playful commotion echoed continuously through the living room, dispelling some of the normally bleak atmosphere of the winter day.

At three in the afternoon, someone knocked on the door again.

Since Yasuya was helping in the kitchen, Saori Amemiya went to answer it.

She had been playing ludo with Reina when Yasuya suddenly called her name. Though reluctant, she slipped on her slippers and shuffled toward the entrance.

Without checking the peephole, Saori opened the door. The moment she saw who stood outside, however, she froze and blurted out, “The shrine maiden lady?”

Ito Nobue, who had unexpectedly been addressed that way, was also momentarily stunned. When she recovered, a faint blush appeared on her face. With an awkward smile, she asked, “It’s me. Is Yasuya-kun home?”

Although Saori had no idea why the woman had come, she nodded and stepped aside. After Nobue entered, Saori closed the door and called toward the kitchen, “Yasuya, the shrine maiden from Fukuen Shrine has come to see you!”

The instant she spoke, everyone except Saki, who was sneaking food in the kitchen, stopped what they were doing and pricked up their ears.

Yasuya naturally noticed their strange behavior. Though feeling somewhat awkward, he could only steel himself and lean out of the kitchen to greet Nobue, who had just finished changing her shoes.

“Good afternoon, Nobue-san. Why don’t you sit in the living room for a while? I’ll be finished here soon.”

“Mm.”

Nobue answered softly and walked over to the sofa. She sat there upright and motionless, like an elementary school student.

Reina was in much the same state.

The moment she saw Nobue, the girl immediately lowered her head, terrified that her former teacher would recognize her.

After all, to a student, a homeroom teacher was like a cat to a mouse. The fear of the latter was practically written into the former’s DNA.

Unfortunately, the more one feared something, the more likely it was to happen. Reina had only just begun to entertain a sliver of hope when Nobue greeted her first.

“It’s been a long time, Reina.”

At the sound of her voice, Reina’s face fell. Knowing that she had been recognized, she slowly raised her head and forced a stiff smile. She was about to look for a drawing pad, but then remembered that she could speak now. All she could do was scratch her head awkwardly and say with a sheepish grin, “Good afternoon, Miss Ito.”

Nobue smiled and nodded, but then suddenly realized what she had heard. She stared at Reina in astonishment.

“Did Reina just speak?”

“Huh? Of course I was speaking,” Reina replied, nodding as though it were the most natural thing in the world.

Only after saying it did she remember that she had never told Nobue she could speak again. She therefore explained what had happened a few days earlier.

After hearing Reina’s explanation, Nobue was happy for her, but she could not help feeling puzzled as well.

She had spent even longer in Yamanashi Prefecture than Yasuya had, yet she had never heard of any particularly gifted doctor in the area.

Perhaps Yasuya had simply been lucky.

Shaking her head, Nobue decided not to dwell on it.

Because of the gap in their social positions, she could clearly tell that Reina had been rather tense ever since she arrived. Nobue was not especially familiar with Saori, either. After sitting there for a while and watching the atmosphere grow increasingly awkward, she simply suggested, “I’ll go to the kitchen and see if I can help with anything.”

Without waiting for either of them to respond, she rose and walked toward the kitchen.

The first thing Nobue saw when she reached the doorway was four people busying themselves around the stove. The second was Saki Kurosai, who was constantly stuffing food into her mouth nearby.

Saki noticed her as well. Her eyes lit up, and despite having her mouth full, she dashed over with quick little steps and threw herself into Nobue’s arms. Tilting her head up, she called out indistinctly, “Mama Ito, what are you doing here?”

“Mama came to see Saki-chan.”

A gentle smile spread across Nobue’s face as she placed a hand on the girl’s head and ruffled her hair. Saki immediately narrowed her eyes in contentment.

The four people in the kitchen also turned around at the sound. Seeing Nobue at the doorway, Yasuya set down what he was holding and greeted her with a broad smile.

“Good afternoon, Miss Nobue. Why aren’t you sitting in the living room?”

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At that, Nobue lifted a hand to tuck the hair beside her ear away and looked up at Yasuya as she explained, “There was nothing for me to do sitting there, so I thought I’d come see whether I could help in the kitchen.”

“Then you’re in for a disappointment.”

Yasuya pointed toward the dishes arranged on the stove, each one releasing a rich and appetizing aroma.

“We’ve already finished cooking. All that’s left is to clean up.”

“Oh.”

Nobue nodded, looking somewhat disappointed.

When people found themselves in an unfamiliar environment, they often sought out someone familiar to lean on, or tried to do whatever small task they could manage so they would not feel quite so alone. That was exactly what Nobue had been thinking.

Yasuya noticed her unusual mood. After a moment’s thought, he turned to the others and asked, “Can I leave the rest to you? I’ll take Miss Nobue into the living room for a while.”

“Go ahead,” Sagiri Amemiya said, waving her hand.

Nadeshiko and Yui did not object either.

Seeing this, Yasuya nodded, washed his hands in the sink, and returned to the living room with Nobue.

Saki came out with them as well, dangling from Yasuya’s grip on the back of her collar.

She had eaten half a full plate of shrimp balls. Yasuya was worried that if he did not drag her away soon, there would be nothing left for anyone else to eat that evening.

He casually set the little girl down and had Saori play games with her. Then he poured a cup of hot water and placed it in front of Nobue before asking curiously, “Has your part-time work at the shrine ended?”

“Not exactly…”

Nobue sighed before explaining, “The truth is, I came back this time intending to resign from the school. From now on, I may spend all my time working as a shrine maiden at Fukuen Shrine.”

“Why?”

Yasuya was extremely surprised. Even Reina, who had been somewhat stiff because of Nobue’s arrival, suddenly raised her head and stared at her in astonishment.

Seeing their reactions, Nobue gave a bitter smile and slowly began to explain.

It turned out that Toshikazu Kudo, the head priest of Fukuen Shrine, had discovered that his wife was having an affair with another man. In a fit of rage, he killed both of them.

Although he eventually turned himself in, he was sentenced to death.

“The death penalty?”

Yasuya was shocked. He could not help recalling Kudo’s honest, simple-looking face.

“Mr. Kudo didn’t seem like such a vicious person.”

“That’s what I thought, too.”

Nobue shook her head. As though she had remembered something, her face paled slightly, but she continued explaining.

“Until the day the tragedy occurred, Mr. Kudo behaved completely normally. He even went out of his way to talk with me for a while. Yet no one could have imagined that later that very night, he would hang his wife’s head and her lover’s head from the torii gate directly in front of the shrine.”

“Good grief…”

Yasuya and the two girls listening nearby inhaled sharply at the same time. Saori hurriedly covered Saki’s ears, though her own expression had turned rather unpleasant.

After all, she had spoken with Kudo just a few days earlier and had even bought two shrine maiden outfits from him.

No one could have imagined that such an apparently honest and good-natured man would commit something so horrifying.

In Japan, if a murder resulted in only one death, the chances of the suspect receiving the death penalty were extremely low. However, if the crime took place in a public area and caused severe social repercussions, the perpetrator could very well be sentenced to death.

Kudo certainly knew that. Yet even though he understood he would probably be condemned to die, he had still done it.

Perhaps this was the fury of an honest man pushed beyond his limits.

Yasuya shook his head, deciding to put an end to the grim subject. He turned to Nobue and asked, “Then why did you say you might be working at the shrine as a shrine maiden from now on?”

“Well…”

Nobue smiled helplessly. She picked up the cup of hot water, blew gently on it, and took a small sip before explaining.

“For certain reasons, Mr. Kudo ultimately decided to transfer ownership of the shrine to my family. I’ve become the acting head priest appointed by my family to oversee Fukuen Shrine.”

“How is that fair?”

Yasuya blurted out almost immediately.

At his reaction, a faint flicker passed through Nobue’s eyes, but she did not offer much of an explanation.

At first, when she heard the news, she had been just as confused and even resistant. But after her father presented her with a series of documents concerning Yasuya, along with evidence that she was not pregnant, Nobue ultimately chose to compromise.

In truth, her father was not nearly as foolish as she had thought. He might have suspected several days earlier, or perhaps several months earlier, that Nobue had not become pregnant. In the end, he had deliberately arranged for her to take a part-time position at his friend’s shrine, with the purpose of determining whether she was pregnant or not.

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Nobue had not realized any of this at the time.

Now that she thought about it, there was a very good chance that Kudo’s decisive murder of his wife and her lover had also been connected to her father.

Although the incident had happened, it was not entirely bad news.

At the very least, Nobue would no longer need to avoid Yasuya, nor would she have to worry about pretending to be pregnant.

The only drawback was that she would probably have less and less time to spend with him in the future.

Exhaling softly, Nobue decided not to dwell on it. She set down her cup and looked at the clothes worn by Saori and Reina. Remembering the outfits worn by the three girls she had seen in the kitchen earlier, she could not resist teasing Yasuya.

“I never expected you to be into this sort of thing, Yasuya-kun.”

Although she said it with a smile, the sour note in her voice was obvious to everyone.

Yasuya understood it naturally. He scratched his head awkwardly, then said with a grin, “If you like it, Miss Nobue, I can buy you an outfit too.”

“Really?”

Nobue blinked, then smiled and waved her hand.

“No, thank you. That style isn’t really my taste.”

As she spoke, she lowered her crossed leg and patted the space beside her. Seeing this, Saki immediately wriggled free from Saori’s embrace and climbed onto Nobue’s lap.

The two of them played together like a genuine mother and daughter.

Though Nobue did not show it, Yasuya could tell that something else was weighing on her mind.

I’ll have to find a chance to ask her about it properly later.

Just as he was thinking this, someone knocked on the door again.

“Are you expecting anyone else?”

Yasuya looked toward Reina and Saori. Both shook their heads.

Seeing this, Yasuya stood and walked toward the entrance.

He had invited only Nobue that day, and none of his other friends knew his address. He could not imagine who might be visiting.

The knocking continued.

“Please wait a moment,” Yasuya called as he opened the door.

But the moment he saw the figure standing outside, he froze.

In the setting sun, two figures—one tall and one small—stood quietly before the entrance.

The taller one wore a red evening gown and had long, wavy brown hair. It was Maki Tachibana.

The smaller figure standing beside her was a girl of seven or eight.

The child seemed rather shy. She had hidden behind Maki the entire time, and when Yasuya opened the door, she simply withdrew her head as well, revealing only a pair of large, dark, inquisitive eyes as she studied the unfamiliar man before her.

“Good afternoon, Yasuya-kun,” Maki said first.

She still wore that alluring, foxlike smile. Apparently noticing the confusion in Yasuya’s eyes, she tugged on the girl beside her and introduced her.

“This is my daughter, Eri Tachibana.”

“Your daughter?”

The revelation struck Yasuya like a thunderbolt. He had not forgotten that the narrator had previously mentioned that Maki had never been intimate with her late husband.

Before Maki could explain, the girl at her side spoke up first.

“She isn’t my mother.”

Although she said it decisively, the little girl continued clutching Maki’s skirt and refused to let go.

Yasuya raised an eyebrow. Then he crouched down until he was at eye level with the child and asked gently, “Is she really not your mother?”

“Mm-hmm!”

The girl nodded emphatically.

“I understand.”

As he spoke, Yasuya pulled his phone from his pocket. Under the puzzled gazes of both of them, he dialed the police while muttering to himself, “Kidnapping a child must carry quite a lengthy sentence…”

The final paragraph was garbled. If you see repeated text, please refresh the page. Sorry about that.

End of Chapter