LIGHTNOVELONLINE Chapter 79
Knock knock
“Yuki, I’m leaving dinner at the door… Make sure to eat it if you remember.”
“…”
Shikishima Ryota quietly placed a rice ball and a kettle of tea in front of his daughter’s door, which she hadn’t left for four days.
Just before the Moscow incident broke out, disturbing rumors emerged from Russia.
Upon receiving a letter left by Yuki, Ryota almost fainted.
[I’m going to Russia for a bit. Don’t worry. – Yuki]
His daughter, who had just started to spend time like she used to, was going to such a dangerous place.
‘I thought she was just hanging out with friends since last December, but she was really working as a Magical Girl.’
Though Yuki only went to Russia for one day, that single day felt like hell for Ryota.
Nuclear war crisis.
Humanity’s destruction.
When he heard government and police officials calling for people to evacuate amidst horrendous news in a pottery workshop, he thought he was going crazy.
As he anxiously wondered when his daughter would come home, Yuki returned. He wanted to scold his daughter who dared to poke her head into dangerous places with worry.
“I’m back.”
“Y-Yuki…?”
Her eyes were completely empty.
Her dress was ablaze with flames.
The heat felt like it was taking over the space.
Seeing his daughter as a Magical Girl for the first time, Ryota was shocked. The sight of her draped in a flowing red color that flickered like fire was unfamiliar. Overwhelmed by Yuki’s spirit as she called out for someone, he couldn’t muster a word.
“…”
His daughter staggered into her room and buried herself in her blanket for four days.
“Yuki, are you okay?”
Ryota felt a mix of wanting her to share what happened and guilt for still feeling awkward around her.
Ding dong
“Hmm? Yes, I’m coming.”
At the sudden doorbell, he thought maybe someone was rushed over from the pottery workshop he had taken leave from.
‘At this hour? Did a sudden bulk order come in from the department store? If so, the boss would have called.’
Amidst the war crisis, he told the pottery workshop boss that his daughter had visited Russia as a Magical Girl, and said he’d take a short break.
“Right. Parents should often see their kids when they’re in their arms.”
Content that the boss was aware of the situation, Ryota hesitated briefly at the door.
“…”
Who could it be?
It had been chaotic lately with police and Magical Girls handling various incidents, and he heard that due to the unrest, thieves and ruffians had become rampant. Ryota stood at the door, quietly raising his phone to call for help.
“W-Wait?!”
A girl?
Just as he resolved to call, a delicate voice made his hair stand on end. However, with his guard down, Ryota carefully opened the front door, leaving the door chain on.
“A… Hello?”
“Um… Who are you…?”
“I’m Yuki’s friend.”
“…”
With her western features and flowing silver hair.
An unusual, tall figure that didn’t match her youthful face.
Her mature body and thin eyes were more developed than most adults.
“…”
The extraordinary-looking girl was claiming to be a simple friend of his daughter.
No matter how he looked at it, it was suspicious that a girl with such graceful, upper-class features showed up at dinner time claiming to be a friend of his otherwise plain daughter.
‘Should I report her?’
He had heard about shady groups approaching Magical Girls like friends or seniors, so suspicion grew.
“D-Don’t! I really am her friend!”
For some reason, it felt as though the girl could read Ryota’s mind.
“No! That’s not it! I really am her friend! Shikishima-san! Please listen to me!”
In a panic, she blurted out how Yuki liked to eat udon and where they went for walks every weekend, trying to prove she was Yuki’s friend.
“W-How do you know all that…?”
Even details he himself didn’t know about his shy daughter were recounted in detail, leaving him flabbergasted.
“Yuki told me! Please believe me!”
Ryota couldn’t believe that his usually shy daughter had shared her entire mundane life with this girl in just a month.
‘…Now that I think about it, Yuki had been glued to her smartphone for the whole month.’
Finally letting go of his suspicion, Ryota opened the door chain and welcomed the girl.
“Hmm, I see. I’m Shikishima Ryota, Yuki’s dad. Sorry for being rude to your friend.”
“No, it’s okay. It’s true that things have been rough lately, anyway.”
*
I awkwardly waited in the living room with the tea Ryota prepared, hoping Yuki would come out of her room.
‘This is the first time I’ve seen Yuki’s dad.’
Shikishima Ryota looked just a few years older than my previous self. Therefore, I couldn’t bring myself to call him “uncle.” It felt wrong to refer to someone I would have called “brother” as an uncle if I had met him at work.
‘Well, if he got married in his early twenties and had a kid, he’d be about right after fifteen years.’
I, on the other hand, had been hopping around part-time jobs in my late twenties without even dating, so I envied Ryota for having a cute, lovely daughter like Yuki.
‘If it were me, I’d carry a sweet and lovely daughter like Yuki every day.’
As I momentarily envied Shikishima-san, the faces of the Sato couple came to mind.
‘Actually, the Sato couple wasn’t much older than I was…’
Knowing the struggles that Shikishima-san and the Sato couple faced, it felt weird to envy them without acknowledging the sorrow they had lived through. Yet it was inescapable to feel envy for them having a lovely daughter and a happy family.
While I was thinking this, Ryota came into the living room with a fidgety expression.
“I’m sorry. It seems Yuki has dozed off a bit… She’s been holed up in her room and doesn’t come out.”
“Oh… Really?”
The Moscow incident must have brought back horrific nightmares of destruction for Yuki.
‘What to do. I really wanted to discuss [Revelation] with Yuki quickly…’
I thought for a moment about getting up, as waiting here might be a bother to Shikishima-san.
“Would you like to see her face at least?”
“Eh? Her… face?”
“Honestly, it’s the first time I’ve seen my daughter so happy to have a friend. I thought seeing a friend’s face might cheer her up…”
Yuki’s room.
That room she always longed to return to in the original work.
I wanted to see it at least once.
‘Now that we’re both girls, she won’t feel embarrassed, right?’
In the end, I couldn’t resist my curiosity.
“Um. Then let’s go see her.”
I followed Ryota to Yuki’s room.
“Dinner… She never ate it in the end.”
The rice balls and tea Ryota had prepared were cold, sitting untouched outside the door. With a sad expression, Ryota gathered them and knocked on Yuki’s door.
Knock knock
“Yuki, your friend is here. Want to say hi?”
“…”
“Yuki?”
Ryota cautiously grasped the doorknob and confirmed Yuki curled up under her blanket like a snail, the comforter wrapped around her head.
I carefully stepped into her room.
The room where she had grown up smelled warmly like sunshine.
Frames.
On Yuki’s wall were pictures documenting her growth.
The frame containing a picture of her and her dad together hadn’t gained any new photos since she was 9 years old.
From 9 onward, she had always struggled with loneliness, carrying painful memories.
“…”
Seeing that made my heart ache, so I sat beside her bed and gently stroked Yuki’s head.
“Yuki.”
“…Hmm?”
Yuki looked at me with her messy face peeking out from the blanket.
“Hika…ri.”
“I’m here.”
Yuki stared at me blankly for a moment, then spoke in a hoarse voice.
“…Stay.”
“Eh?”
“Don’t… leave without a word.”
“…”
“Don’t… vanish… suddenly.”
“…”
For the ones who were genuinely worried about my brief disappearance, it was likely Yuki who truly feared death, as she’d be far too accustomed to the painful reality of her comrades’ deaths.
“I’m sorry.”
“It was my fault…”
With her head still covered in the blanket, Yuki pushed her head against my chest.
Though the attack didn’t hurt at all, for some reason, it made my heart ache immensely.
A hint of resentment.
“I…”
“…”
“If it’s not Hikari… I’ll be alone again.”
“I’m sorry.”
Thud.
“It was my fault.”
“I won’t do that again.”
Thud.
“It was my fault…”
Gently, I embraced Yuki who kept headbutting me.
Knowing I eventually must depart, I couldn’t remain by her side forever. But I wished for this friend, who bore so many scars, to grow strong.
I prayed that she’d make even more friends who could share their hearts beside her.
I held her for a while.
Yuki quietly shed a tear in my embrace.
“…”
“…”
After a moment of silence, Yuki suddenly looked up, startled.
“…Is this not a dream?”
“…Yeah.”
“Yuki, should I… go out for a bit with your dad?”
“…No.”
We shared a brief, awkward silence.
Yuki burrowed back into the blanket.
“Yuki, wanna have dinner?”
“Yeah… Dad.”